![]() Constitution, the Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act, and the Michigan Constitution. In June of that year, the plaintiff brought the lawsuit before the federal court alleging that the township’s ordinance violated the U.S. The group was ordered again to take down the installation, but again refused. The Genoa Township Planning Commission recommended approval following a hearing, noting that it had gone above and beyond to address township concerns.īut the township board denied the application on a divided vote in May 2021, with those in opposition arguing it was inconsistent with the township’s master plan. The group did not comply and sought to expedite its longer-term plan to seek approval for an actual church building at the property as the township treated the installation as a church already.Ī land use application was submitted for the church plans in December 2020, which included a plan for a 6,000-foot chapel, a driveway and a parking lot, along with the existing prayer trail. The township in October 2020 demanded that the trail and its fixtures be removed. The group objected to the complexity of the application and process, but the township did not budge.Ĭourt records show that the plaintiffs built the trail anyway, but none of them were visible outside of the wooded property. In July 2022, the group told the township that it was creating the trail, but its community development director told them that it would treat the trail as a church and required a special land use and site plan to be approved prior to construction via the township’s zoning ordinance. The “prayer trial” was created with 14 stations depicting the last days of Jesus Christ. The case centered around the group’s Stations of the Cross installation that it placed along a trail on a 40-acre wooded property conveyed to it in 2020 by the Roman Catholic Diocese of Lansing. It also rejected a cross appeal from the township on the matter. Genoa Township reserved the lower court’s holding and granted the injunctions. In a published opinion written by Judge Raymond Kethledge, joined by Judge Eric Clay and Judge Joan Larsen, the panel in Catholic Healthcare International v. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled unanimously on Monday. ![]() District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan erred when it twice denied preliminary injunctions for a Catholic group seeking to reinstall a Stations of the Cross exhibit on its prayer trail in Genoa Township, the 6th U.S.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |