Primera Iglesia Bautista Hispana v. Broward County

In 1997, Primera Iglesia Bautista Hispana bought a single family home in an unincorporated area of Broward County, Florida, for use as a church. The area, near Coconut Creek, is zoned for agricultural use, but has actually become a typical South Florida suburban area. The house is about half a mile from two separate golf courses, and lies near a Catholic maternity home, a prep school, a pet grooming facility and a restaurant.

A few months before the church purchased the home, Broward County zoning laws were amended to require that churches in an agricultural estate zoning district be at least 1,000 feet from other nonresidential buildings.

The church sought a building permit to renovate the house in 1998, but were denied. They also asked for a variance to waive the 1,000 foot rule, but that was denied, too. A second application for a variance was denied in early 2000. In the meantime, church members gathered at the house for worship, and the county's Code Enforcement Board cited the church for conducting "illegal" worship services. County employees were assigned to stake out the property to catch congregation members in the act of praying.

Finally, on April 4, 2001, the church filed suit against the county, charging violations of RLUIPA and the Florida RFRA. The case was initially assigned to U.S. District Judge Wilkie Ferguson. Court-ordered mediation efforts failed.

Broward County filed notice that it would challenge the constitutionality of RLUIPA on June 6, 2001, and notice it would challenge the constitutionality of the Florida RFRA on June 14, 2001.

The U.S. Department of Justice intervened in the case to defend the constitutionality of RLUIPA, and the Florida Attorney General intervened to defend the state RFRA. The county moved to dismiss Counts II and III of the complaint, but the motion was denied by Judge Ferguson on August 16, 2002. In September 2002 the case was reassigned to U.S. District Judge Jose Martinez.

On December 5, 2002 Primera Iglesia made an emergency motion for a preliminary injunction that would allow the church to begin renovating the property while the court considers a motion for a permanent injunction. The church says its membership has dropped from 200 members to just 60 members because of the county's efforts to prevent use of the property for worship. Judge Martinez denied the motion on January 9, 2003.

Judge Martinez granted Primera Iglesia Bautista's request for oral argument on its amended motion for summary judgement, but the hearing, which was originally set for May 13 in U.S. District Court in Miami, has been continued and no new date has been set.

The Becket Fund for Religious Liberty filed an amicus curiae brief on April 18, 2003, and on April 23, asked the court to admit Becket Fund attorneys Anthony Picarello, Roman Storzer and Rebecca Rees pro hac vice so that they can participate in oral arguments on the constitutionality of RLUIPA. The 23 page amicus brief offers a concise, up-to-the-minute review of all of the most recent court decisions regarding RLUIPA's constitutionality, and arguing that Broward County's now-familiar "arguments should fail, just as they have in every other RLUIPA and RFRA case over several years — until two, virtually identical, poorly reasoned district court opinions broke rank in the last two months."

Primera Iglesia and its Pastor, Augusto Pratts, are represented by attorney Sidney Calloway, of the Ft. Lauderdale office of the law firm of Shutts & Bowen. (Primera Iglesia Bautista Hispana v. Broward County, Case # 01-CV-6530, U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida)