The U.S. Department of Justice has contacted a federal district court in support of a Christian church suing Santa Ana with allegations the city violated religious land use rights when a zoning application to use space in the city’s professional district as a house of worship was denied.
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In 2022, the Chinese-American church Anchor Stone purchased the Santa Ana property near the 55 Freeway and Dyer Road intending to use it as its worship space. Because the property is located in a district zoned for professional uses — typically businesses and administration offices where no merchandise is sold, such as a bank or medical offices — the church was required to obtain a conditional use permit, which the Planning Commission denied.
In 2023, the Santa Ana City Council unanimously denied the church’s appeal.
Anchor Stone argues in its lawsuit that the city’s denial infringes upon its rights under the Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act of 2000, or RLUIPA, a federal law that protects individuals and religious institutions from “unduly burdensome, unequal or discriminatory” land use regulations.
“It frustrates me because this city, we all know this, we keep seeing RLUIPA thrown at us as an excuse to circumvent our local laws,” Councilmember Phil Bacerra said at the Nov. 21 City Council meeting. “Why I find it offensive is because it asserts that we are somehow opposed to religious freedom.”
The Justice Department’s statement of interest filed with the court on Friday, March 14, in support of Anchor Stone says the city’s zoning code violates RLUIPA because it treats religious assembly uses less favorably than nonreligious assembly uses.
“Nothing in the zoning code, the city’s recently revised general plan, or the city’s denial of the church’s (conditional use permit) justifies this unequal treatment,” the Justice Department said.
Zoning practices that limit the congregation of faith-based groups violate federal law, Acting U.S. Attorney Joseph McNally for the Central District of California said in a statement.
“Municipalities cannot create zoning districts that treat houses of worship worse than comparable secular assemblies,” he said. “The Justice Department will vigorously protect the right of religious institutions to receive equal treatment under the law.”
Jeremy Dys, senior counsel at First Liberty Institute, which is representing Anchor Stone, said he is grateful for the Justice Department’s commitment to defending religious freedom.
“The DOJ’s credible voice adds strength to the position that the city of Santa Ana has failed to treat Anchor Stone fairly in violation of both federal law and the U.S. Constitution,” Dys said.
Santa Ana spokesperson Paul Eakins said the city is aware of and reviewing the Department of Justice’s court filing, but declined to comment further on the litigation.
The U.S. Department of Justice has made similar filings in several RLUIPA cases, its attorneys said in their court brief.
That includes in 2023 when the nonprofit Micah’s Way sued Santa Ana arguing that the distribution of food and beverages to homeless people is part of its religious exercise after the city refused to certify the organization’s occupancy certificate and threatened to impose fines and seek legal action should any food distribution continue at its property.
