OLEAN, N.Y. — A federal law and state case law in place to protect religious organizations left the Olean Zoning Board of Appeals no choice last week but to approve the sale of the Premier Banquet Center to Believers Chapel, said attorneys involved in the matter.

The federal Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act of 2000 (RLUIPA) prohibits the government from imposing zoning laws that substantially burden a religious institution. In addition, New York state case law establishes that religious organizations are entitled to special treatment and zoning boards must accommodate them. The laws aim to protect religious organizations from discriminatory land use and zoning policies.

“The decision of the ZBA had to be made within the confines of the RLUIPA,” attorney Daniel Spitzer of law firm Hodgson Russ, who advised the zoning board, said. “It basically limits your ability to say no to a religious use.”

Both Spitzer, as well as attorneys for Premier and Believers Chapel, cited the laws to the board, which ultimately permitted a variance Thursday allowing the banquet center property at 2000 Constitution Ave. to become a church. The owners of Premier, Paul and Lisa Marra, have through both representatives and a letter to the board cited financial hardships as the reason for the $1.25 million sale.

Under RLUIPA, the zoning board could not legally deny the variance unless it could prove that doing so was in furtherance of a compelling government interest or that the church posed a threat to the community.

Spitzer said RLUIPA arises any time a religious organization submits an application for zoning approval. The most prominent example, he said, is the controversial Park51 mosque near ground zero in Manhattan.

“The reason New York City was very limited in its ability to deal with the opposition was because of RLUIPA,” he said.

If the zoning board had voted down the banquet center variance, Spitzer said there potentially could have been “very serious consequences” for the city, such as financial damages.

“It’s potentially a violation of the religious organization’s civil rights, which could lead to assessments of the religious organization’s legal fees against the city, which is not a remedy available in a typical zoning case,” Spitzer said.

Attorney Vincent Hanley of law firm Bond, Schoeneck & King, who provided special zoning counsel for Believers Chapel, said the chapel would have had the right to appeal the decision to the Cattaraugus County Supreme Court with an Article 78.

How likely would it have been for the church to win the appeal?

“I don’t think there’s any question that the church would have had the stronger argument,” Hanley said.

Still, the zoning board nearly voted down the variance, as three of seven members voted ‘no.’ In fact, the board did not discuss the laws in its public meeting last week until banquet center and chapel representatives brought it up, and board Chairwoman LaDorna Fox even expressed confusion about the laws after the vote.

Hanley said he outlined the laws in a variance application he submitted to the board before its Oct. 27 meeting.

“There was an attachment to the application, and all of that was cited as being the principal ground for seeking this decision,” he said.

Spitzer would not disclose what he advised the board, but both board members and banquet center and chapel representatives said he cited the laws in a letter to board members. A Freedom of Information Law request for that letter was denied Tuesday by the city of Olean, which cited attorney-client privilege.

Spitzer, who has advised the city on a variety of issues over the last two decades, provided counsel in place of city attorney Nicholas DiCerbo Jr. DiCerbo said he had previously represented the Marras and removed himself from the variance application to avoid a conflict of interest.

The sale of the banquet center has been a bit controversial because Believers Chapel will not have to pay property taxes, as churches are tax-exempt, and because Premier Banquet received a series of tax abatements over a 10-year period through Empire Zone benefits. City officials, including Fox and Mayor Bill Aiello, have expressed concern to the Times Herald over the loss of tax revenue.

Yet Spitzer said it’s important to remember one of the reasons RLUIPA exists is to prevent a board from denying a church land based on tax revenue. He said before the law was passed, municipalities banned religious organizations from owning land because the church would not have to pay taxes.   

“And so Congress particularly attempted to take away that as a reason for saying ‘no,’” Spitzer said.

Hanley, who said the Marras and Believers Chapel are extremely pleased with the sale, said loss of tax revenue is not a proper reason to deny a church land. He reiterated that religious organizations are tax-exempt because they’re beneficial to communities.

“We have every expectation the city is going to benefit tremendously from Believers Chapel being there,” he said.