Guru Nanak Sikh Society of Yuba City v. County of Sutter Casey Kroon Dennis Nelson Larry Munger Dan Silva

BEA, Circuit Judge:

We must decide whether a local government’s denial of a religious group’s application for a conditional use permit to construct a temple on a parcel of land zoned “agricultural” constituted a “substantial burden” under the Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act of 2000 (RLUIPA), 42 U.S.C. §§ 2000ce, et seq., and if we find that the denial was a substantial burden, whether RLUIPA is constitutional.

We find that the County 1 imposed a substantial burden on Appellee Guru Nanak Sikh Society of Yuba City’s (“Guru Nanak’s”) religious exercise under RLUI-PA because…