## Facts

- The City of Leon Valley, Texas amended its zoning ordinance in March 2007 to encourage a retail corridor along Bandera Road, where many parcels are zoned B-2.
- Before the amendment, churches could seek special use permits (SUPs) to operate in B-2 zones.
- The amendment eliminated the ability of churches to obtain SUPs in B-2 zones, effectively excluding churches from B-2 and limiting them to B-3 zones.
- The ordinance continued to allow certain nonreligious, nonretail assemblies (including clubs or lodges) to seek SUPs in B-2 zones.
- In January 2008, The Elijah Group, Inc. contracted to purchase a B-2 property on Bandera Road contingent on rezoning to B-3; the City denied the rezoning request.
- The Church leased the property and was permitted to operate a daycare there, but the City prohibited worship services at the site.
- After the Church held services despite the prohibition, the City obtained a temporary restraining order to stop the services.
- The Church sued, asserting statutory and constitutional claims; the principal federal claim on appeal invoked RLUIPA’s Equal Terms Clause.

## Issues

1. Whether the City’s zoning scheme violated RLUIPA’s Equal Terms Clause by excluding churches from B-2 zones while allowing similarly situated nonreligious assemblies to seek SUPs in the same zone.

## Decision

- The Fifth Circuit reversed the district court’s summary judgment for the City on the Church’s RLUIPA Equal Terms claim and remanded for further proceedings.
- The court held that the City’s land-use regulation treated the Church on less than equal terms than comparable nonreligious assemblies permitted to pursue SUPs in B-2 zones.
- The Fifth Circuit left undisturbed the district court’s rejection of the Church’s other statutory and constitutional claims.

## Legal Principles

- RLUIPA’s Equal Terms Clause bars a government from implementing a land-use regulation that treats a religious assembly or institution less favorably than a similarly situated nonreligious assembly or institution.
- For Equal Terms analysis, a proper comparator is a nonreligious assembly similarly situated in light of the regulation’s stated purpose; differential treatment of such comparators establishes an Equal Terms violation.
- A legitimate governmental objective (such as economic development) does not justify an ordinance that is not evenhanded between religious assemblies and comparable secular assemblies with respect to that objective.

## Conclusion

The Fifth Circuit held that Leon Valley violated RLUIPA’s Equal Terms Clause by categorically excluding churches from B-2 zones while allowing comparable nonreligious assemblies to seek special-use permits in those same zones, and it reversed and remanded on that claim while leaving the remainder of the judgment intact.


Elijah Grp., Inc. v. City of Leon Valley, 643 F.3d 419 (5th Cir. 2011)