A. Government shall not impose or implement a land use regulation in a manner that imposes an unreasonable burden on a person‘s exercise of religion, regardless of a compelling governmental interest, unless the government demonstrates one of the following:

Terms Used In Arizona Laws 41-1493.03

  • Demonstrates: means meets the burdens of going forward with the evidence and of persuasion. See Arizona Laws 41-1493
  • Exercise of religion: means the ability to act or refusal to act in a manner substantially motivated by a religious belief, whether or not the exercise is compulsory or central to a larger system of religious belief. See Arizona Laws 41-1493
  • Government: includes this state and any agency or political subdivision of this state. See Arizona Laws 41-1493
  • Jurisdiction: (1) The legal authority of a court to hear and decide a case. Concurrent jurisdiction exists when two courts have simultaneous responsibility for the same case. (2) The geographic area over which the court has authority to decide cases.
  • Nonreligious assembly or institution: includes all membership organizations, theaters, cultural centers, dance halls, fraternal orders, amphitheaters and places of public assembly regardless of size that a government or political subdivision allows to meet in a zoning district by code or ordinance or by practice. See Arizona Laws 41-1493
  • Person: includes a religious assembly or institution. See Arizona Laws 41-1493
  • Suitable alternate property: means a financially feasible property considering the person's revenue sources and other financial obligations with respect to the person's exercise of religion and with relation to spending that is in the same zoning district or in a contiguous area that the person finds acceptable for conducting the person's religious mission and that is large enough to fully accommodate the current and projected seating capacity requirements of the person in a manner that the person deems suitable for the person's religious mission. See Arizona Laws 41-1493
  • Unreasonable burden: means that a person is prevented from using the person's property in a manner that the person finds satisfactory to fulfill the person's religious mission. See Arizona Laws 41-1493

1. That the person’s exercise of religion at a particular location violates religion-neutral zoning standards enacted into the government’s laws at the time of the person’s application for a permit.

2. That the person’s exercise of religion at a particular location would be hazardous due to toxic uses in adjacent properties.

3. The existence of a suitable alternate property the person could use for the exercise of religion.

B. Government shall not impose or implement a land use regulation in a manner that treats a religious assembly or institution on less than equal terms with a nonreligious assembly or institution, regardless of a compelling governmental interest.

C. Government shall not impose or implement a land use regulation in a manner that discriminates against an assembly or institution on the basis of religion, regardless of a compelling governmental interest.

D. Government shall not impose or implement a land use regulation in a manner that completely excludes a religious assembly or institution from a jurisdiction or unreasonably limits religious assemblies, institutions or structures within a jurisdiction, regardless of a compelling governmental interest.

 

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