Primera Iglesia Bautista Hispana v. Broward County

• Decision Date: 01 June 2006
• Docket Number: No. 04-15898.,04-15898.
• Citation: 450 F.3d 1295
• Parties: PRIMERA IGLESIA BAUTISTA HISPANA OF BOCA RATON, INC., a Florida corporation, Augusto Pratts, David Pratts, Plaintiffs-Counter-Defendants-Appellants Cross-Appellees, v. BROWARD COUNTY, a Political Subdivision of the State of Florida, Defendant-Counter-Claimant-Appellee Cross-Appellant.
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Eleventh Circuit

450 F.3d 1295

PRIMERA IGLESIA BAUTISTA HISPANA OF BOCA RATON, INC., a Florida corporation, Augusto Pratts, David Pratts, Plaintiffs-Counter-Defendants-Appellants Cross-Appellees, v. BROWARD COUNTY, a Political Subdivision of the State of Florida, Defendant-Counter-Claimant-Appellee Cross-Appellant.

No. 04-15898.

United States Court of Appeals, Eleventh Circuit.

June 1, 2006.

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Deborah Lynne Martohue, Martohue Land Use Law Group, P.A., St. Petersburg, FL, for Appellants.

David Jay Glantz, James David Rowlee, Ft. Lauderdale, FL, for Appellee.

Appeals from the United States District Court for the Southern District of Florida.

Before BIRCH and MARCUS, Circuit Judges, and MILLS^*, District Judge.

MARCUS, Circuit Judge:

Primera Iglesia Bautista Hispana of Boca Raton, Inc. ("Primera" or "the Church") appeals from the entry of final judgment, after a bench trial, in favor of the defendant, Broward County ("the County"). The district court found that the County did not violate section 2(b)(1) (the "Equal Terms Provision") of the Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act of 2000 ("RLUIPA"), 42 U.S.C. § 2000cc(b)(1), by denying Primera a zoning variance. Primera also appeals the district court's conclusion that Primera, as a corporation, lacked standing to bring a section 1983 claim for the violation of its constitutional rights under the Due Process, Equal Protection, and Free Exercise Clauses. After careful review, we reverse the dismissal of Primera's section 1983 claims because Primera, as an incorporated religious organization, both has standing in the case and has stated a claim under the Constitution and laws of the United States. We affirm, however, the district court's final judgment entered for the County on the Church's RLUIPA claims.

I.

The essential facts developed at trial are these. Use and development of land in unincorporated Broward County is regulated by the Broward County Zoning Code ("BCZC"). Article XIV of the BCZC sets forth the regulations applicable to land designated A-1 Agricultural Estate. In July 1997, the County amended Article XIV of the BCZC to require "a minimum distance of one thousand (1,000) feet" between nonagricultural, nonresidential uses in the A-1 district (the "Separation Requirement"). BCZC § 39-245(9)(a). The stated purpose of these regulations was "to protect, preserve and enhance the rural character and lifestyle of existing low denisity areas and agricultural uses and comply with the [relevant portions of the Comprehensive Plan]." BCZC § 39-246. Places of worship are permitted in the A-1 zoning district, but like all nonagricultural, nonresidential uses, they are subject to the Separation Requirement. BCZC §§ 39-245, 39-249.

Primera is a Hispanic Baptist congregation affiliated with the Southern Baptist Convention and serving Hispanic congregants in northern Broward County, Florida.¹ In December of 1997, Primera purchased a residential property located at 7450 Lyons Road in unincorporated northern Broward County ("the Property"). The warranty deed conveying the Property to Primera unambiguously states that the Property is subject to zoning ordinances and other restrictions and prohibitions. The Church was represented by counsel in the purchase. The Property is approximately one acre in size with a single family residence situated thereon. It is located in the A-1 Agricultural Estate zoning district of Broward County.

The Property is within 1,000 feet of other nonresidential, nonagricultural uses. Among these properties, several were annexed into the City of Coconut Creek before the County enacted the Separation Requirement. Once annexed, those lands fell outside the A-1 zoning district and were not subject to the Separation Requirement. At trial, Primera presented no evidence that any property owner has obtained a variance from the Separation Requirement.

Of particular importance to this appeal is the Broward County Preparatory School ("the School"), which is located within 1000 feet of the Church and comprises some seventy acres of land. Coconut Creek annexed most of the School's land from unincorporated Broward County before the County enacted the Separation Requirement. But the School later acquired an additional ten-acre parcel of land adjacent to its main grounds, located in unincorporated Broward County and zoned A-1. In 2001, upon the School's application, the County rezoned the ten-acre parcel from A-1 to I-1, Institutional and Educational District, which does not impose any distance requirements. There is no evidence that the School used the ten-acre parcel for any nonresidential, nonagricultural use before the rezoning, but afterwards the School built a performing arts center and auditorium on the land.

After Primera purchased the Property, it hired an architect to develop a site plan to renovate the house into a place of worship and submitted those plans to the County. A County official informed Primera that the Separation Requirement prohibited any nonagricultural, nonresidential use of the property, and advised them to seek a zoning variance. Primera applied for a variance in March 1998, but at an April 1998 hearing, it withdrew the request after its attorney informed the Church that there was no quorum of the Board of Adjustment ("the Board"), and that it should try instead to work out any opposition from its neighbors. When the Church's pastor, Augusto Pratts, spoke to the neighbors, he learned that some objected to Primera's variance request. And at a hearing in June 1998, neighbors voiced substantial opposition to Primera's renewed request. The Board denied the variance, offering three reasons: (1) the Separation Requirement was necessary to maintain the primary purpose of the agricultural district; (2) Primera created its own hardship by buying an under-zoned property; and (3) Primera's request did not meet the criteria for a variance set forth in the Zoning Code § 39-40.²

In spite of the Board's decision, Primera continued to use the Property for various prayer meetings and church services. In response, in 1999, the County issued Primera a Notice of Violation for "illegally conducting church services (by admission)" in a residential structure in violation of the zoning code, and set a hearing before the Board. At the hearing, on October 28, 1999, the Board found that Primera, by admission, had illegally used the residential structure to conduct church services.

Primera then sued the County in state court under the Florida Land Use and Environmental Dispute Resolution Act, Fla. Stat. § 761.03 (2004), challenging the County's enforcement of the Separation Requirement. However, the parties reached a mediated resolution whereby Primera agreed to submit a new application to the Board to request a variance. Primera, with the assistance of the Zoning Code Services Division ("ZCSD") staff, submitted yet another variance application that proposed additional use restrictions to mitigate any possible negative effects. This time, the ZCSD staff recommended approval to the Board on the following grounds: (1) the new site plan mitigated the negative effects of the variance; (2) the hardship was not self-created;³ and (3) the operation of the Church would not negatively affect traffic in the area.

The Board held another hearing on Primera's request, at which time Primera's neighbors again voiced opposition and presented photographs and a video of Primera's past use of the Property, depicting, among other things, garage sales and religious services. The Board again voted to deny the variance because "granting the variance would not be in harmony with the community or the general intent or purpose of the Code and . . . such variance would be injurious to the area involved and it would be otherwise detrimental to the public welfare by virtue of the traffic created."

Nevertheless, Primera continued to use the Property for worship services, prompting still more complaints to the County, which resulted in the ZCSD issuing still another Notice of Violation on September 12, 2000. Thereafter, Primera stopped using the Property for worship services. Notably, Primera never sought to have the Property re-zoned or annexed into the nearby municipality of Coconut Creek.

In April 2001, Primera filed this lawsuit against the County in the United States District Court for the Southern District of Florida, challenging the County's decision denying Primera a variance. Primera's Amended Complaint alleged three counts. Count I sought declaratory and injunctive relief pursuant to 42 U.S.C. § 1983 for violation of Primera's rights under the First, Fifth and Fourteenth Amendments to the United States Constitution. Count II claimed that the County's zoning decisions violated: RLUIPA section 2(a), 42 U.S.C. § 2000cc(a) (the "Substantial Burden provision"), by imposing a substantial burden on Primera's exercise of its religious freedoms; RLUIPA section 2(b)(1), 42 U.S.C. § 2000cc(b)(1) (the "Equal Terms provision"), by treating Primera on less than equal terms with other nonreligious assemblies; RLUIPA section 2(b)(2), 42 U.S.C. § 2000cc(b)(2) (the "Nondiscrimination provision"), by discriminating against Primera on the basis of religion or religious denomination; and, RLUIPA section 2(b)(3)(B), 42 U.S.C. § 2000cc(b)(3)(B) (the "Unreasonable Limitation provision"), by imposing regulations that unreasonably limit religious assemblies within the A-1 zoning district.⁴ Finally, count III claimed a violation of a corollary state statute, the Florida Religious Freedom Restoration Act of 1998 ("FRFRA").

After a three day bench trial the district court ruled in favor of the County on all counts, making extensive findings of fact and conclusions of law. As an initial matter, the district court determined that Primera, as a corporation, lacked standing to pursue a section 1983 action to...