Scottish Rite Cathedral Ass'n v. City of Los Angeles

The Scottish Rite Cathedral Association of Los Angeles (SRCALA), a nonprofit mutual benefit corporation that built and owns the Scottish Rite Cathedral (Cathedral) located in the mid-Wilshire district of Los Angeles, and a private entity named Los Angeles Scottish Rite Center, LLC (LASRC), which currently operates the Cathedral under a lease with SRCALA, appeal from the denial of their petition for writ of administrative mandamus challenging the City of Los Angeles’s (City) revocation of the Cathedral’s certificate of occupancy, an action that bars the use of the Cathedral for any purpose unless a new certificate of occupancy is granted. SRCALA and LASRC contend the City’s actions impermissibly burdened the exercise of their religious beliefs in violation of the Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act of 2000, title 42 United States Code section 2000cc et seq. (RLUIPA). We affirm.

FACTUAL AND PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND

1. The Scottish Rite Cathedral

Between 1958 and 1959 SRCALA sought and received a zoning change, a variance and a building permit to allow the construction of a four-story Masonic temple and parking lot on a parcel on Wilshire Boulevard bordering…