Boulder – The City Council has designated two blocks of quaint, early-1900s homes on University Hill as a historic district, complicating a Catholic church’s expansion plans and delighting residents who don’t want to see their neighborhood change.
But the decision – which places a strict set of regulations and review processes in the way of the church’s hopes to demolish three homes it owns in order to grow – does not end the dispute over plans for St. Thomas Aquinas Church.
In truth, the battle may be just beginning.
Shortly after Tuesday night’s City Council meeting, St. Thomas Aquinas attorney Joseph de Raismes said the church would go through the city process for permission to destroy the homes and go ahead with the expansion. If that doesn’t work, de Raismes said, the church might sue under the federal Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act, or RLUIPA.
The act says governments cannot have a land-use regulation that imposes a “substantial burden” on a church or religious expression.
“Suddenly an additional burden is placed on us that may result in issues that are costly,” said The Rev. Paul Huesing, the pastor at St. Thomas Aquinas.
If the church cannot expand to serve its growing number of parishioners, it may have to move, Huesing said.
If the church did decide to fight a land-use decision under RLUIPA, it would hardly be alone. Across the metro area and the nation, churches are booming, residents are trying to limit growth and spare land that’s at a premium – and RLUIPA battles are becoming more common.
This month, Boulder County commissioners turned down a bid by the Rocky Mountain Christian Church in Niwot to double the size of the church. The commissioners, worried that their decision might run afoul of RLUIPA, said they will ask a federal district court judge to make a ruling on the matter.
Other RLUIPA battles have occurred in Foxfield, Lafayette and Greenwood Village.
“There is a substantial amount of RLUIPA litigation going on in the country,” said Jared Leland, legal counsel for the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty. “And rightly so. There certainly is an amount of discrimination.”
At Tuesday night’s meeting, however, Boulder City Attorney Ariel Calonne argued that creating the historic district does not discriminate against or impose a substantial burden on the church. The National Trust for Historic Preservation argued likewise in a letter.
Several residents said the church has always been a good neighbor. So, while residents said the historic preservation drive began as a way to keep the church from tearing down the old houses, many said the issue had grown.
“It would be nice,” said neighborhood resident Tom Aronson, “for people in 10, 20, 40 years to be able to walk this area and get a glimpse of what Boulder was like.”
Staff writer John Ingold can be reached at 720-929-0898 or jingold@denverpost.com.
