Immanuel Baptist Church v. City of Chi.

283 F. Supp. 3d 670
CourtDistrict Court, E.D. Illinois
DecidedSeptember 22, 2017
DocketNo. 17 C 00932
StatusPublished
Cited by6 cases

This text of 283 F. Supp. 3d 670 (Immanuel Baptist Church v. City of Chi.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, E.D. Illinois primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Immanuel Baptist Church v. City of Chi., 283 F. Supp. 3d 670 (illinoised 2017).

Opinion

John J. Tharp, Jr., United States District Judge

This case presents the question: "When is a church like a library?" When it comes to parking needs, the City of Chicago says, "Never." But the Immanuel Baptist Church, the plaintiff in this case, says its parking needs are no different than those of a library. The Church brought this lawsuit against the City after it was unable to purchase a building in which to hold its services because City zoning requirements require the Church to have off-street parking that the property did not offer. Libraries of comparable size, by contrast, require *673no off-street parking. The Church alleges that in treating religious assemblies worse than comparable secular assemblies like libraries, the City's parking regulations facially violate the Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act (RLUIPA), 42 U.S.C. 2000cc, et. seq. , and deny the Church equal protection under the Fourteenth Amendment. The City moved to dismiss the Church's complaint under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 12(b)(6) for failure to state a claim. Upon agreement of the parties, the City's motion was subsequently converted to a motion for summary judgment and the Church has moved for summary judgment as well. Because the Church has failed to present prima facie evidence to support its RLUIPA claim, the Court grants the City's motion for summary judgment on that claim. The Court also grants the City's motion for summary judgment on the equal protection claim because the City has shown that it is entitled to judgment on that claim as a matter of law. The Court denies the Church's motion for summary judgment. The Church, however, may still pursue an as-applied RLUIPA claim.

BACKGROUND

I. Procedural History

Before the Court are cross-motions for summary judgment on the Church's RLUIPA and equal protection claims. The motions, however, have a somewhat unusual procedural history. The Church's complaint was filed in February 2017. In May 2017, in an effort to expeditiously resolve the legal issues in the case where there appeared to be no disputes of material facts, the parties, at the Court's suggestion, agreed to proceed with motions for summary judgment on the basis of the facts set forth in the complaint.

The Church initially filed a motion for preliminary injunction on May 4, 2017, and shortly thereafter, on May 15, 2017, the City moved to dismiss the complaint for failure to state a claim under Rule 12(b)(6). Pl.'s Mot. for Prelim. Inj., ECF No. 14; Def.'s Mot. to Dismiss, ECF No. 17. During a hearing before the Court on May 16, 2017, the parties indicated that there were no significant factual disputes. Hr'g Tr. 3:23-4:1, 4:9-5:10, May 16, 2017, ECF No. 34. Based on this indication, the Court proposed to the parties that it convert the City's motion to dismiss to a motion for summary judgment and resolve the questions of law at issue in the case based on the undisputed facts set forth in the Church's complaint. Id. 6:9-7:13. The parties agreed to the Court's proposal.1 Id. ; Order, May 16, 2017, ECF No. 20. On June 7, 2017, the Church filed its response to the City's converted motion for summary judgment and moved for summary judgment in the Church's favor on both claims. Pl.'s Resp., June 7, 2017, ECF No. 25. However, in support of its response and cross-motion, the Church asserted additional facts beyond those set forth in the complaint. Id. 2 n.2. The City moved to strike the Church's response and cross-motion in its entirety because it relied on facts not set forth in the complaint and because the Church improperly moved for summary judgment. Def.'s Mot. to Strike, June 16, 2017, ECF No. 26.

At a hearing before the Court on June 22, 2017, the Court clarified that in its May 16, 2017 order converting the City's motion to dismiss to a motion for summary judgment, it intended to consider arguments by the Church in favor of a cross-motion for summary judgment. Hr'g Tr. 2:11-3:14, 4:3-9, June 22, 2017, ECF No. 35. The Court further clarified it would only consider *674the facts set forth in the complaint as the agreed statement of facts for both parties' summary judgment motions and respective responses to those motions. Hr'g Tr. 5:17-7:25; Order, June 22, 2017, ECF No. 33. The parties again agreed to proceed with cross-motions for summary judgment based only on the facts set forth in the complaint. Id. Accordingly, the City's motion to strike was denied as moot. Order, June 22, 2017, ECF No. 33. The City then filed its reply on July 14, 2017. Def.'s Reply, July 14, 2017, ECF No. 36.

II. Facts

Based on the parties' agreement and this Court's orders, the Court considers only the facts set forth in the Church's complaint as the agreed statement of facts for the City's converted motion for summary judgment and the Church's cross-motion for summary judgment. Cross-motions for summary judgment require a district court to "take the motions one at a time" and to construe the evidence and make all reasonable inferences in favor of the party against whom the motion under consideration is made. Black Earth Meat Mkt., LLC v. Vill. of Black Earth , 834 F.3d 841, 847 (7th Cir. 2016) ; Rickher v. Home Depot, Inc. , 535 F.3d 661, 664 (7th Cir. 2008).

Since its founding in 1994, the Church has operated in various locations throughout Chicago, Illinois. The Church, which has approximately 60 members and a weekly adult attendance of roughly 80 people, conducts a variety of ministries and religious exercises, including weekly worship assemblies, preaching, pastoral counseling, prayer meetings, singing and musical performances, baptisms, weddings, communion, bible studies, service projects, evangelism, and financial giving. In August 2011, the Church began meeting at 1443 West Roosevelt Road in Chicago (the "Property"), which the Church leases from its owner for $2,700 per month. The Property is located within Subarea B of the City's Planned Development 896 ("PD 896"). The City's Permitted Uses Table states that churches are allowed to operate in Subarea B of PD 896. The Property is approximately 3,900 square feet and consists of a worship center and classrooms. There is no on-site parking at the Property, but street parking is widely available in the surrounding area throughout the week, and the property is surrounded by vacant lots. In November 2012, the City granted the Church an occupancy permit for 146 persons.

In 2016, the Church reached an agreement with the Property owner to purchase the Property and prepared to complete the purchase in June 2016. However, the transaction was halted due to the City's parking requirements for religious assemblies. Before completing the purchase of the Property, the Church's lender requested a determination regarding the legal requirement for parking at the Property.

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
283 F. Supp. 3d 670, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/immanuel-baptist-church-v-city-of-chi-illinoised-2017.