Opulent Life Church v. City of Holly Springs

Decision Date27 September 2012
Docket NumberNo. 12–60052.,12–60052.
Citation697 F.3d 279
PartiesOPULENT LIFE CHURCH; Telsa DeBerry, Plaintiffs–Appellants, v. CITY OF HOLLY SPRINGS, MISSISSIPPI; Board of Aldermen of the City of Holly Springs, Mississippi; City Planning Commission of the City of Holly Springs, Mississippi, Defendants–Appellees.
CourtU.S. Court of Appeals — Fifth Circuit

OPINION TEXT STARTS HERE

Ashley E. Johnson (argued), Perak Shah, Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher, L.L.P., Dallas, TX, Michael Reed Martz, Freeland Shull, P.L.L.C., Oxford, MS, Jeffrey Carl Mateer, Gen. Counsel, Hiram S. Sasser, Liberty Legal Institute, Plano, TX, for PlaintiffsAppellants.

R. Pepper Crutcher, Jr., Anne Harlan Latino, Balch & Bingham, L.L.P., Jackson, MS, James Kizer Jones (argued), J. Kizer Jones Law Office, Holly Springs, MS, for DefendantsAppellees.

April J. Anderson (argued), Mark Lenard Gross, Deputy Chief Counsel, U.S. Dept. of Justice, Civ. Rights Div.-App. Section, Washington, DC, for Amicus Curiae, U.S.

Appeal from the United States District Court for the Northern District of Mississippi.

Before WIENER, ELROD, and SOUTHWICK, Circuit Judges.

JENNIFER WALKER ELROD, Circuit Judge:

Until the eve of oral argument, the City of Holly Springs, Mississippi, had on its books a zoning ordinance that explicitly singled out “churches” for unfavorabletreatment, albeit not for the outright banning of their presence from particular locations. The night before we heard argument, Holly Springs amended its ordinance, this time to ban [c]hurches, temples, synagogues, mosques, and other religious facilities” from its historic and centrally located courthouse square. Opulent Life Church—which has leased property on the courthouse square but still needs zoning approval to occupy that property—filed this suit in federal district court, claiming that the (now-repealed) ordinance's church-specific provisions, facially and as applied, violate the Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act (“RLUIPA”), 42 U.S.C. § 2000cc et seq.; the First Amendment; the Fourteenth Amendment; and the Mississippi Constitution. Opulent Life simultaneously filed a motion for a preliminary injunction of the challenged provisions. The district court denied the motion on the sole ground that Opulent Life has not shown a substantial threat of irreparable harm. For the reasons that follow, we conclude that the district court abused its discretion in denying the preliminary injunction and, therefore, VACATE and REMAND.

I.
A.

Opulent Life Church is a fledgling Christian congregation in need of a larger meeting space. Since opening its doors in February 2011, Opulent Life has grown to about eighteen members.1 It desires more growth but is constrained by its small building, the Marshall Baptist Center, which can comfortably accommodate only twenty to twenty-five people. The pastor of Opulent Life, Telsa DeBerry, stated in his affidavit that many potential church members have attended services but declined to join because Opulent Life's present facility is too small to accommodate them. Opulent Life's small facility has also limited its ability to operate its community service and outreach programs. For example, it can only host certain community outreach events—such as Vacation Bible School, Friends in the Park, and Movies in the Park—outdoors, when the weather permits, because its current building cannot accommodate such events.

According to Opulent Life, these space limitations substantially impair its ability to fulfill its religious mission. Opulent Life's mission statement is as follows: “to engage all in our sphere of influence with the Gospel of Jesus Christ that we may encounter the called and lead them to be in right standing with God and man.” According to Pastor DeBerry, fulfilling this mission requires regular worship services, community activities and outreach, and welcoming individuals who wish to participate in Opulent Life's activities. Consequently, Opulent Life considers it “of vital importance to [its] religious mission that it maintain a facility large enough to accommodate a growing congregation.”

Because of the inadequacy of its present building, Opulent Life has sought a more spacious facility for the past sixteen months. Opulent Life launched this search in March 2011, the month after its founding. Soon Opulent Life identified a suitable property in Holly Springs's central business district, on the courthouse square. In August 2011, Opulent Life entered into a lease agreement to use the property as a church. By its terms, the lease will commence when Opulent Life obtains the proper land use and building renovation permits from Holly Springs. The lessor filed an affidavit in this court in early May averring that he is experiencing significant financial hardship, that he urgently needs rental income from the property, and that he will have no choice but to terminate the lease agreement if Opulent Life cannot soon occupy the property.

Less than a month after signing the lease, Opulent Life applied for a renovation permit and submitted a comprehensive building plan to the Holly Springs City Planning Commission. The Commission tabled the request at a meeting held a few days later. Its stated reason for doing so was that Opulent Life had failed to meet the (now-repealed) requirements of Holly Springs's zoning ordinance that apply only to churches (hereinafter Section 10.8). 2 The Commission did not indicate which provisions of Section 10.8 Opulent Life failed to meet, but it did provide Pastor DeBerry with a copy of those requirements. It is Pastor DeBerry's belief that Opulent Life failed to satisfy Section 10.86, which required that sixty percent of property owners within a 1300–foot radius approve the property's use as a church, and Section 10.89, which required Opulent Life to obtain approval from Holly Springs's mayor and Board of Aldermen.3 The entirety of the zoning ordinance's church-specific provisions are as follows:

10.8 Churches

Churches where permitted in the City of Holly Springs, shall conform to the following standards:

10.81 The amount of traffic generated and on site parking accommodations by the proposed facility must be located on a through street;

10.82 Ingress and egress to the property and proposed structures thereon with particular reference to automotive and pedestrian safety and convenience, traffic flow and control, and access in case of fire or catastrophe;

10.83 Plans must show assurance that noise levels shall not disturb the neighborhood in which the facility is proposed to be located;

10.84 The proposed scale and context of the associated activities and facilities;

10.85 A site plan shall be submitted in conformance with the site plan standards of this ordinance;

10.86 Survey of the property owners within a 1300 foot radius with 60% approval;

10.87 Sign must be located on building only and have no lighting in residential districts;

10.88 Must be minimum of 25,000 square feet in B–4 zones;

10.89 Final approval must be granted by the Mayor and Board of Aldermen.The zoning ordinance imposes “supplemental standards” for several other uses, including home occupations, junkyards, mini-warehouses, bed and breakfasts, and mobile home parks. Prior to the recent amendments to the ordinance, however, only churches were subject to approval by neighboring property owners and the mayor and Board of Aldermen.

Opulent Life filed suit on January 10, 2012. Its complaint seeks a declaration that Section 10.8 of the zoning ordinance violates RLUIPA facially and as applied,4 the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution facially and as applied, the Equal Protection and Due Process Clauses of the Fourteenth Amendment facially and as applied, and the Mississippi Constitution facially and as applied. The complaint also seeks injunctive relief to prevent Holly Springs from enforcing Section 10.8 or “the remainder of the Zoning Ordinance to impose limitations on churches not applicable to other nonreligious entities.” Finally, the complaint seeks actual damages and attorney's fees.

With its complaint, Opulent Life filed a motion for a preliminary injunction to enjoin enforcement of Section 10.8. In support, it attached an affidavit of Pastor DeBerry, explaining, inter alia, the harm that Opulent Life believes it is suffering because of Holly Springs's decision to table the church's permit request until it can satisfy the zoning requirements that apply to churches.

Just seven days later, the district court denied the motion for preliminary injunction in a two-page order. The district court based its ruling entirely on its conclusion that Opulent Life had not shown a substantial threat of irreparable harm. The entirety of its reasoning is as follows:

It appears that the plaintiffs are still able to meet at their current location, Marshall Baptist Center. They seek to use the rented building in anticipation that their membership will grow. As the plaintiffs are not currently being deprived of the right to freely exercise their religion, the court fails to see irreparable harm if the injunction is not granted.

The district court entered its order before Holly Springs had responded to the complaint or preliminary injunction motion. Pursuant to local rules, Holly Springs's opposition was not due until fourteen days after the motion's filing. Opulent Life filed its notice of interlocutory appeal the day after the district court entered its order.

B.

Holly Springs amended its zoning ordinance on August 7, 2012, the night before oral argument. Counsel for Holly Springs advised this court that Holly Springs had been working on a new zoning ordinance for more than a year.5

In amending its ordinance, Holly Springs repealed Section 10.8 and replaced it with a new provision that categorically bans [c]hurches, temples, synagogues, mosques, and other religious facilities” from the newly created Business Courthouse Square District.” This new district includes the property leased by Opulent Life. The stated...

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