By ADAM ATKINSON
North Country This Week

CANTON -- Attorney Gregg Johnson of Johnson & Laws LLC of Clifton Park will represent the village of Canton in the lawsuit filed by the Christian Fellowship Center against the municipality.

The CFC is suing the village for discrimination for the repeated denials of a use permit for the lot at 25 Court St., a property purchased by the church located in the village’s C1 commercial zone which specifically denies churches and religious organizations.

“This law firm is experienced in these types of actions and they have been provided to the village through its insurance carrier,” said an announcement from the village.

The CFC is being represented by the firm Mauck & Baker LLC of Chicago. They specialize in cases dealing with ministries and places of worship, and zoning issues related to churches.

“We see to represent clients with integrity and care by using Biblical principles as the foundation of our work. Our attorneys have over thirty years of legal experience working with churches, businesses, non-profits and individuals,” the firm’s website says.

The CFC has attempted in vain to gain a use permit for the lot in Canton for several months to house its Canton congregation there.

At issue is that the historic property, formerly the home of several local restaurants and originally built as gentlemen’s club in the 1800s, is located the village’s C1 commercial district which does not allow churches or religious institutions to set up shop.

The church has been denied use permits by the village code officer for both religious services and office space at the site. The denial to hold religious services there was upheld by village’s Zoning Board of Appeals, based on the existing zoning restrictions.

The CFC bought the property for $310,000 at the beginning of January without securing any kind of use permit for the site and before receiving the ZBA’s decision. The ZBA is still mulling a reinterpretation request of the denial for office use of the property.

The board determined in their ruling that the denial did not meet the standard of unequal treatment under federal Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act (RLUIPA) which was passed to protect religious organizations from discrimination in property matters.

The C1 zone is a relatively compact area in the village’s downtown business district and was set up seemingly to concentrate commercial businesses in one area. Several other zones in the village do allow churches and religious organizations.

Mauck & Baker’s has had some successes suing municipalities on behalf of churches over local zoning restrictions.

Using RLUIPA as the basis of its case, in 2013 the firm successfully settled its action against the city of Milwaukee, Wisc., on behalf of Harvest Covenant Church after a year-long suit. The church founders were attempting to open a church in a downtown business storefront. Harvest Covenant not only was allowed use of the storefront under the settlement, the city paid them $191,000 in damages and attorney’s fees. The settlement can be viewed online at https://rluipa.robinsoncoleblogs.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/9/2015/01/31-1X.pdf.

Mauck & Baker defended the church Rios De Agua Viva in Burbank, Ill., in a similar situation. In 2010, the church was attempting to purchase and use a building formerly known as the Old Barn Restaurant, which was zoned commercial and was denied a special use permit by the city. While the church was ultimately unable to purchase the building, the city still agreed to pay them $459,801 in damages in 2018, said a press release from the firm.