Waverly Twp. Supervisors could change the municipality’s zoning Thursday to expand where places of worship are allowed in the township while making it easier for them to grow.
If approved, the zoning amendment would also add a definition for the federal Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act of 2000, known as RLUIPA.
A group called the Concerned Residents of Waverly is asking the community to turn out for the hearing. They want the supervisors to slow down on the decision to change zoning.
“The Township Board of Supervisors and their advisors have gotten into a state of panic about being sued and have overcompensated,” the group says in a release. “They are giving too broad of a decrease in zoning standards which the situation does not call for.”
The group also says the change could create a deficiency in equal treatment for other uses in the current zoning and lower the bar for zoning issues going forward.
The proposed amendments also include revising use classifications related to places of worship/assembly and oil and gas extraction; and deleting supplemental requirements for places of worship/assembly and allowing the use in all zoning districts.
There currently is a religious zoning issue in the township. After requesting a special exception under the zoning ordinance, township Zoning Officer Christina Capozzi issued a permit in December to the Chabad of the Abingtons to add 12 cabins for religious retreats and overnight stays on its over 20-acre property at 216 Miller Road.
Neighbors Terrence and Margaret Neville are appealing the permit decision.
What could change
Township supervisors Cheryl Lynn Murnin, chair; Drew Christian, vice chair; and Eric Parry will hear one hour of public testimony before they could vote to change Waverly’s zoning laws.
Besides defining RLUIPA, the zoning amendment reclassifies place of worship/assembly from a special exception use to a permitted use by right.
“A use permitted by right is a use expressly permitted in a zoning ordinance for which the zoning officer has authority to determine conformance with ordinance requirements and approve and issue a zoning permit,” according to the Pennsylvania Department of Community and Economic Development (DCED).
“A use permitted by special exception or conditional use is … subject to a hearing and decision of the zoning hearing board (special exception) or governing body (conditional use) respectively,” DCED says.
Oil and gas extraction would also be changed from permitted use by right to use by special exception.
Federal law to protect religion
Religious institutions are protected by the U.S. Constitution’s First Amendment.
“Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion or prohibiting the free exercise thereof,” the amendment says.
Congress passed RLUIPA in 2000 after hearing testimony that land use and zoning regulations often burden religious institutions seeking to exercise their faiths, according to the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ).
“This federal law protects religious institutions from unduly burdensome or discriminatory land use regulations,” according to the DOJ.
But with all zoning law, it’s nuanced.
The DOJ provides a list of examples, including that a church may request a permit to build an addition for a Sunday school if they believe it's needed to carry out their mission. A municipality could deny that request but then they would have to prove a compelling reason.
The hearing begins at 6 p.m., followed by the special meeting of the Board of Supervisors at 7:30 p.m., at the Waverly Community House, 1115 North Abington, Waverly Twp.
