Legion Wins Zoning Case Before NY's Highest Court

On June 6, 2006, the New York Court of Appeals -- the highest court in the state -- concluded that the Town of Mount Pleasant, NY could not interpret its zoning ordinance to prohibit a religious "conference and training center" (run currently by the Legion of Christ, a Catholic religious order) in the very same buildings on the very same site as a nonreligious "conference and training center" (run previously by IBM, a for-profit corporation). 

In explaining that there was no legitimate zoning reason for treating the two uses differently, the Court specifically addressed the fact that IBM's use was taxable, while the Legion's was tax-exempt:

The Town does not claim that the Legion's use of the property presents any traffic, health, safety or similar problem that was not also presented by IBM's use.  Of course, there is one difference that is important to the Town -- the Legion, unlike IBM, is tax exempt.  But keeping property in tax-paying hands is not a legitimate purpose of zoning.

(Emphasis added.)  The full decision is available at this link.  In March, the Becket Fund filed an amicus curiae brief with the Court of Appeals, available at this link.

Resources & Documents

• Becket Fund Amicus Curiae Brief (Mar. 17, 2006) (PDF, 76.37KB)

Relevant Cases

• Legion of Christ v. Town of Mount Pleasant