Zoning change would ease rules for churches

By Al Everson
BEACON STAFF WRITER

posted Jun 30, 2009 - 11:43:44am

To make certain local law conforms to federal statutes and court decisions, Volusia County may amend its zoning ordinance by deleting a requirement that churches be located along main roads.

The suggested change would allow a house of worship to be built along a local road or a neighborhood street, unless there would be a traffic-safety problem.

A church could be constructed on any parcel where a public school may be built, including residential and commercial properties.

The current ordinance requires churches to be on “arterial or collector” roads; in other words, major thoroughfares and the roads that feed into them.

“What this amendment does is to make sure houses of worship would be treated as equal with nonreligious uses,” Assistant County Attorney Michael Dyer said. “It’s really a housekeeping change.”

The County Council authorized advertising the proposed change for a public hearing, whose date and time will be determined later.

Dyer said the new provision would put the county in line with the Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act (RLUIPA), which was signed into law by President Bill Clinton in 2000.

Congress passed the measure to prevent cities and counties from using zoning and building regulations to prevent churches from developing houses of worship.

In 2001, a church sued Volusia County after the County Council refused to grant a special exception for a house of worship to be built near Cassadaga.

The church sued under the RLUIPA and the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, and the U.S. District Court in Orlando ruled in the church’s favor. The County Council subsequently granted the church permission to build its meeting place.

There will still be restrictions on development of houses of worship.

“There shall be no direct vehicular access from the site directly to any local street, unless deemed necessary for traffic safety purposes ... or access to the site is exclusively by a local road,” reads the revised language in the county’s zoning ordinance.

The county has 45 zoning classifications in the unincorporated area, and “there are 33 zoning classifications where houses of worship are allowed,” Dyer said.

Zoning Director Mary Robinson said the categories that do not permit churches include the Resource Corridor (RC), industrial zones, and some mobile-home areas.

— al@beacononlinenews.com

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