House of Fire Christian Church v. Zoning Bd. of Adjust. of Clifton, A-6128-10T1; Appellate Division; opinion by Harris, J.A.D.; decided and approved for publication June 1, 2012. Before Judges Fuentes, Graves and J.N. Harris. On appeal from the Law Division, Passaic County, L-6003-02. DDS No. 26-2-6474 [17 pp.]
Seven years ago, in this longstanding land-use dispute among plaintiff House of Fire Christian Church, defendants city of Clifton and its board of adjustment, and intervenor Livia Pepper, the Appellate Division granted leave to appeal nunc pro tunc and affirmed the Law Division’s remand of the church’s development application to the board for a consolidated hearing. When the board again denied the application, the church filed a “Second Amended Complaint in Lieu of Prerogative Writs.” The first court asserted conventional claims under the Municipal Land Use Law. The second and third alleged violations of the Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act and unspecified “other state or Federal law” protecting religious organizations.
