Agenda - Planning Commission - 05/02/2013

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March 25, 2013 I Volume 7 I Issue 6 Zoning Bulletin Case Note: 600 Marshall had also alleged multiple constitutional violations, including that: the Dance Hall Ordinance was unconstitutional as an improper restraint on expressive activities because it did not contain certain procedural safeguards; that the Dance Hall Ordinance was unconstitutionally vague, both facially and as applied; and that 600 Marshall was deprived of a protected due process property or liberty interest when an earlier -issued dance permit was revoked. The United States Court of Appeals, Sixth Circuit, rejected all of these claims. It held that: 600 Marshall forfeited its right to raise -its improper restraint argument on appeal; the Dance Hall Ordinance was not unconstitutionally vague but was, in fact, relatively simple, and, in any case, 600 Mar- shall failed to point to any term or provision in the Ordinance that it believed was vague; and 600 Marshall was not deprived of a protected property or liberty interest when an earlier -issued dance permit was revoked and not reissued because 600 Mar- shall did not have a legitimate property interest in the dance permit originally issued because that permit allowed adult entertainment and thus was issued erroneously, nor had 600 Marshall sought a permit to present nonnude dancing. RLUIPA—County zoning ordinance prohibits construction of private institutional facilities in zoning district. Church, which- had purchased land in the zoning district to construct place for worship, alleges that prohibition violates RLUIPA Citation:. Bethel World Outreach Ministries v. Montgomery County Council, 2013' WL 363620 (4th Cir. 2013) The Fourth Circuit has jurisdiction over Maryland, North. Carolina, South Carolina, Virginia, and West Virginia. FOURTH CIRCUIT (MARYLAND) (01/31/13)—This case addressed the issue of whether a county zoning regulation, which prohibited the construc- tion of private institutionalized facilities in a particular zoning district violated the federal Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act ("RLUIPA"). The Background/Facts: Bethel World Outreach Ministries ("Bethel") was a Christian church with two places of worship in Montgomery County, Mary- land (the "County"). Facing overcrowding at its places of worship, Bethel purchased a 119-acre property in the County (the "Property"). The Property was within a 93,000-acre area that had been designated as an "agricultural reserve." It was zoned "rural density transfer zone." In that zone, property was subject to a transferable development rights system. Under that system, 8 © 2013 Thomson Reuters