Los Angeles, CA – Court Overturns Ruling on Synagogue in Hancock Park

Los Angeles, CA – A federal appeals court overturned a lower court’s decision that permitted an Orthodox Jewish congregation to operate a synagogue in a residential neighborhood of Los Angeles’ Hancock Park area.

The U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that the lower court erred when it dismissed a lawsuit by a neighborhood group. The League of Residential Neighborhood Advocates contended that an agreement between Congregation Etz Chaim and the city of Los Angeles violated zoning laws.

The matter first surfaced in 1996, when Etz Chaim applied to the city zoning administrator for a variance to use a run-down residence at Highland Avenue and 3rd Street as a synagogue. The application was denied.
Citing a federal law that protects religious organizations from discrimination by local zoning boards, the congregation then sued the city in federal court. The city agreed to a settlement that permitted the congregation to worship at the site — on which it had built a greatly expanded structure — but restricted other congregation activities there.

It was this settlement agreement that the neighborhood group challenged. U.S. District Judge Christina A. Snyder dismissed the group’s complaint in December 2003.
The appeals court agreed with the neighborhood group and sent the matter back to the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California to be reconsidered. [LA Times]