Saints Constantine and Helen Greek Orthodox Church, Inc. v. City of New Berlin

A Greek Orthodox church (plaintiff) bought 40 acres in the City of New Berlin (city) (defendant) to build a church and applied to rezone part of the land for institutional use; the city rejected the church's own proposed ordinance restricting the land to church uses based on a mistaken belief that a future buyer wouldn't be bound by it, and instead offered either a one-year conditional-use permit or a similar overlay ordinance the church found functionally identical to its own rejected proposal. Facing the choice of selling the land or restarting a lengthy application process to resolve a concern it had already addressed, the church sued under RLUIPA's substantial-burden provision, and the district court granted the city summary judgment, accepting its claim that it treated the church like any other zoning applicant.