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Religious Uses in Nonresidential Districts
What limitations does a municipality face in excluding religious uses in commercial or industrial districts? That issue has arisen in several cases over the last year and a half, most recently in Western New York District, Inc. v. Village of Lancaster (see infra). Although neither New York nor federal courts have definitively answered that question, it appears that municipalities enjoy more latitude to exclude religious uses in commercial and industrial districts than they enjoy with respect to residential districts.
The Preferred Status of Religious Uses
More than 50 years ago, the Court of Appeals established that municipalities may not exclude churches from residential areas. In Diocese of Rochester v. Planning Board, 1 NY2d 508, the church challenged the town's denial of a special permit and variance that would have permitted construction of a church in a single-family district. The applicable zoning ordinance permitted churches in the district upon grant of a permit by the planning board. The board, however, rejected the church's application, indicating expressly that it would not grant any permit for a church in a built-up residential area, which would, in effect, have excluded churches from any 'class A' residential district in the town. The Court of Appeals held that a policy excluding churches from residential districts did not promote health, safety, and welfare, and was therefore invalid. The court considered and rejected the planning board's reasons for its policy ' including avoiding change in the character of an existing residential neighborhood, protecting property values, and preventing loss of tax revenue ' and held that none of them was sufficient to support an absolute exclusion of churches.
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