Church of Our Lord & Savior Jesus Christ v. City of Markham, 309 F. Supp. 3d 545

The Church of Our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ (the Church) used a former single-family residence at 16018 S. Spaulding Ave., Markham, IL, for worship; the Property sits in the R-3 one-family residential zoning district.
In 2005 the Church sought to demolish an attached garage and build a larger chapel; the Plan Commission and City Council denied the conditional-use proposal over parking and footage concerns.
Between 2012–2013 the Church renovated the Property (including converting a garage into a sanctuary) and continued to hold services; the City initiated enforcement and a state-court injunctive action, inspected the Property, and imposed temporary parking restrictions.
The Church applied for a conditional-use permit in 2013; the Plan Commission and City Council denied it again citing insufficient off-street parking and related safety/ADA concerns.
The federal suit alleged RLUIPA and state-law religious-freedom violations and arbitrary-and-capricious zoning enforcement; the Court directed the Church to apply for variances, which the Church did in 2016–2017; the City granted some variances and a conditional-use permit in 2017.
The Court concluded the Church’s RLUIPA claims were not ripe at filing, found no continuing justiciable controversy after the 2017 variances (mootness for RLUIPA claims as to injunctive relief and no viable damages claim), and granted summary judgment to the City on all claims (and denied the Church’s partial summary judgment motion).

Issue	Plaintiff's Argument	Defendant's Argument	Held
Ripeness of RLUIPA claims	Church: claims ripe after 2013 conditional-use denial; City had effectively admitted churches are permitted uses in R-3	City: Church needed to exhaust administrative remedies and seek parking variances before federal suit; claims premature	Court: Not ripe until Church sought variances; administrative process required and Church later sought variances (2016–17)
Mootness / damages after variances	Church: seeks monetary damages for alleged harm 2013–2017 despite later relief	City: 2017 variances and permit resolved present controversy; no basis for past damages because claims were unripe earlier	Court: Claims moot as to injunctive relief; damages speculative and legally barred because claims were unripe when filed
Rule 36 admission that churches are permitted uses	Church: City admitted churches are permitted in R-2/R-3	City: admission qualified—churches are permitted only as conditional/special uses subject to approval; Rule 36 cannot establish legal conclusions	Court: Rejected Church's view; Rule 36 admission did not conclusively establish a free-standing "permitted use" that obviated conditional-use/variance requirements
Illinois constitutional arbitrary-and-capricious claim	Church: City acted arbitrarily in applying Zoning Code	City: moved for summary judgment; Church failed to respond on this claim	Court: Church waived the claim by not responding; summary judgment for City

Wis. Right to Life State Political Action Comm. v. Barland, 664 F.3d 139 (7th Cir.) (ripeness principles; prudential considerations)
Wis. Cent., Ltd. v. Shannon, 539 F.3d 751 (7th Cir.) (ripeness and avoidance of premature adjudication)
Nat'l Park Hospitality Ass'n v. Dept. of Interior, 538 U.S. 803 (U.S.) (ripeness: avoid abstract disagreements and allow administrative decisionmaking)
Abbott Labs. v. Gardner, 387 U.S. 136 (U.S.) (ripeness framework)
City of Chicago Heights v. Living Word Outreach Full Gospel Church & Ministries, Inc., 196 Ill.2d 1 (Ill.) (special/special-exception uses are permitted conditionally; municipalities may require resolving parking/traffic concerns)
Metro. Milwaukee Ass'n of Commerce v. Milwaukee Cty., 325 F.3d 879 (7th Cir.) (ripeness: fitness and hardship factors)
Miles Christi Religious Order v. Twp. of Northville, 629 F.3d 533 (6th Cir.) (land-use ripeness and administrative finality)
Murphy v. New Milford Zoning Comm'n, 402 F.3d 342 (2d Cir.) (requiring final administrative position in land-use disputes)