In Zubik v. City of Pittsburgh, (WD PA, Feb. 11, 2025), a Pennsylvania federal district court enjoined the city of Pittsburgh from designating a closed Catholic church building that is in substantial disrepair as a historic structure. When a building is nominated for historic designation, its owners are prohibited from making any exterior alterations to the building. The court held that the nomination of the building by a city resident violated the city’s Historic Designation Ordinance that requires the nomination of a religious structure “only be made by the owner(s) of record of the religious structure.”
The court also concluded that the city’s actions substantially burdened use of the church property for religious exercise in violation of the Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act. The court said in part:
The City effectively supplanted the Diocese’s control over the external religious ornamentation and symbols affixed to the Church Building. By doing so, the City hindered, restricted, or encumbered the Diocese’s religious use of its stained-glass windows and other sacred fixtures of the Church Building. Contrary to the City’s argument, these encumbrances impose more than a “minimal effect of limiting how the Diocese could alter the street facing façade” of the Church Building….
…[O]n this record there is no compelling government interest in the City’s exercise of control over the Church Building, nor is the City’s pursuit of historic designation of the Church Building the least restrictive means of achieving its stated interests.