TITLE
Recommendation to declare ordinance amending the Long Beach Municipal Code by amending Chapter 21.32 by amending Table 32-1; and amending Section 21.52.213 by adding Subsection E, all relating to zoning of churches read and adopted as read. (Citywide)
DISCUSSION
In light of recent issues relating to storefront churches, City staff prepared a background report on issues relating to storefront churches. On October 13, 2006, the findings and recommendations were presented to the City Council (Attachment A). The next step after City Council review was to present the recommendations to the Planning Commission. On December 21, 2006, staff presented to the Planning Commission policy options for regulating storefront churches. After considering this information, the Planning Commission directed planning staff to draft text changes to the Zoning Ordinance regarding permitting requirements for new churches and related parking requirements. On February 1, 2007, after a duly noticed public hearing, the Planning Commission recommended that the City Council adopt an ordinance revising the permitting requirements for new churches, and to allow greater flexibility in the method meeting those parking requirements (Attachment B).
Under the Federal Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act of 2000 (RLUIPA), churches and other religious assemblies and organizations, such as home bible studies, now have the protection of specific federal statutes against burdensome, restrictive or discriminatory land use regulations. Congress adopted the Act in response to "massive evidence" that churches, especially new, small or unfamiliar churches, are "frequently" discriminated against by zoning codes and in the discretionary process of land use regulation.
In practice, this generally means that a city cannot, as a general rule, deny a church the use of any land regardless of its zoning codes, as doing so would place a substantial burden on the church by limiting its "religi...
Click here for full text