6th Circuit - RLUIPA Sometimes when you read a case you think "what were these guys thinking". At the same time having been a local government lawyer for more than 40 years, I recognize that courts often decide cases on only the facts that enable the result, so there's like more behind the scenes in this case than I will ever know. Essentially, as reported by the court the facts are these. The Township has a park in which it has a pleasant trail touting the pleasures of reading called the "Leopold the Lion Reading Trail" with fifteen stations along the path. A Catholic organization sought to build its own trail on its own 40 acre property to honor the stations of the cross - the Christian story depicting Christ's last days. The Township denied the organization's request asserting that the stations, etc. were structures under the zoning ordinance. The planned religious trail included an amphitheater for 95 and an altar, a mural and the 14 stations that were about the size of bird houses according to the court. The zoning ordinance defined a church as a structure within which people gathered to worship. Thus, despite the lower court ruling in favor of the Township, the 6th Circuit panel concluded this was not a structure and RLUIPA prohibited the denial of the zoning and an injunction should issue to prevent the Township from obstructing the trail. That the lower court ruled in favor of the Township suggests there may be more to this story than described by the panel, but it's not something I could figure out. Catholic Healthcare vs. Genoa Township, 23a0210p-06.pdf (uscourts.gov)<https://www.opn.ca6.uscourts.gov/opinions.pdf/23a0210p-06.pdf> Charles W. Thompson, Jr. Of Counsel P: (202) 466-5424 x7110 M: (240) 876-6790 D: (202) 742-1016 [facebook icon]<https://www.facebook.com/InternationalMunicipalLawyersAssociation/>[twitter icon]<https://twitter.com/imlalegal>[linkedin icon]<https://www.linkedin.com/company/international-municipal-lawyers-association-inc./> [logo]<https://imla.org/> 51 Monroe St. Suite 404 Rockville, MD, 20850 www.imla.org<http://www.imla.org/> Plan Ahead! Plan Ahead! See IMLA's upcoming events<https://imla.org/events/>, calls and programming. Check out our On-Demand webinar library<https://netforum.avectra.com/eweb/shopping/shopping.aspx?site=imla&webcode=shopping&cart=0&shopsearchCat=Merchandise&productCat=Webinar> with 100+ webinars at your fingertips!