The Third Church of Christ, Scientist, at 583 Park Avenue, located on Manhattan’s Upper East Side, won a legal victory against the City that is of great concern to the Municipal Art Society (click here to read a New York Times report).

With a dwindling membership and a need for funds to repair their building, the Church (designed by architects Delano and Aldrich and constructed in 1923) sought to introduce an income-generating use into their building. The church signed a lease with the catering organization Rose Group Park Avenue, who used the church space to host parties and events that could seat 800 people. Nearby residents fought the catering use because of associated noise and traffic in the residential area. The DOB, which had issued a pre-consideration determination permitting catered events at the church, on which the congregation relied, eventually sent a final determination that did not allow for the use. The DOB rightly determined that the large catering hall was not an “accessory use” to the church and thus in violation of the area’s residential zoning. Continue Reading>>

The impact of the Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act (RLUIPA) is being felt throughout the country as municipalities must reconsider their planning for, and zoning of, religious institutions under the threat of RLUIPA litigation. The Act’s contentious origins aside, RLUIPA is now a well established law with tremendous implications and MAS has organized a continuing legal education (CLE) program to discuss the federal statute’s constitutionality and its influence on local governments next Wednesday, October 23.

The program will introduce the statute, reviewing its constitutional grounds and operative language, and then take a closer look at the impact of the statute generally and locally. Continue Reading>>