| (1) |
Except as provided in Subsection (2), a government entity may not impose or implement a land use regulation in a manner that imposes a substantial burden on a person‘s free exercise of religion. |
Terms Used In Utah Code 63L-5-201
- Free exercise of religion: means an act or refusal to act that is substantially motivated by sincere religious belief, whether or not the act or refusal is compulsory or central to a larger system of religious belief, and includes the use, building, or conversion of real property for the purpose of religious exercise. See Utah Code 63L-5-102
- Government entity: means the state, a county, a municipality, a higher education institution, a special district, a special service district, any other political subdivision of the state, or any administrative subunit of any of them. See Utah Code 63L-5-102
- Land: includes :Utah Code 68-3-12.5
- Land use regulation: means any state or local law or ordinance, whether statutory or otherwise, that limits or restricts a person's use or development of land or a structure affixed to land. See Utah Code 63L-5-102
- Person: means any individual, partnership, corporation, or other legal entity that owns an interest in real property. See Utah Code 63L-5-102
| (2) |
A government entity may impose or implement a land use regulation in a manner that imposes a substantial burden on a person’s free exercise of religion if the government can establish that the imposition of the burden on that person:
| (a) |
is in furtherance of a compelling governmental interest; and |
| (b) |
is the least restrictive means of furthering that compelling governmental interest. |
|
| (3) |
A government entity that meets the requirements of Subsection (2) need not separately prove that the remedy and penalty provisions of the land use regulation are the least restrictive means to ensure compliance or to punish the failure to comply. |
| (4) |
This act shall not impair the ability of local government to impose costs and fees reasonably necessary to mitigate the off-site impacts of development. |
Renumbered and Amended by Chapter 382, 2008 General Session
