Navigating Zoning and Land Use Issues for Faith-Based Properties
AIAU26-IDKC01
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1
LU
Live course date: 12/10/2026 | 02:00 PM
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Description
This webinar explores zoning and land use issues affecting communities of faith and their buildings. The session will examine key regulatory topics, including as-of-right zoning, affordable housing initiatives such as the "Yes in God's Back Yard" (YIGBY) movement, the Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act (RLUIPA), and the intersection of land use regulation and religious freedom. The program will also highlight the perspective of historic preservation commissions, exploring how regulatory and advocacy considerations shape the stewardship of historically significant faith-based properties.
Learning Objectives
Explain the key zoning and land use regulations that affect communities of faith, including the distinction between as-of-right zoning and discretionary approval processes.
Identify current legal and policy issues influencing faith-based properties, including the implications of the YIGBY movement and Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act for religious organizations.
Evaluate the role of historic preservation commissions and regulatory agencies in balancing the protection of historically significant faith-based properties with evolving community development and land use priorities.
Discuss the intersection of land use regulation, historic preservation, and constitutional considerations, including the relationship between government regulation and religious institutions in the context of church-state boundaries.
Presented in partnership with the Interfaith Design Knowledge Community (IDKC).
Rebekah Coffman is a historian, preservationist, and curator currently serving as curator of religion and community history for the Chicago History Museum. Her interdisciplinary work is at the intersection of religious identity and the built environment and explores themes of tangible and intangible heritages in material and visual culture through place-based, community-centered approaches. She holds an MA in Historical and Sustainable Architecture from NYU London, where her research centered on the adaptive reuse of religious buildings.
Madeline G. Johnson is program director for the Fitzgerald Institute
for Real Estate Church Properties Initiative at the University of
Notre Dame. On campus, Madeline holds a term assistant teaching
appointment with the Mendoza College of Business' Business Ethics and
Society Program and is a faculty affiliate of the Sheedy Family
Program in Economy, Enterprise, and Society. Before joining the FIRE
team in 2022, she was a research analyst in capital markets at
commercial real estate firm CBRE, supporting a team of office and
industrial investment sales brokers. A native of Minneapolis, Madeline
graduated summa cum laude with a B.A. in philosophy from Hillsdale
College in 2017 and earned a Master of Urban Planning degree in 2020
from McGill University in Montreal, where her research focused on
adaptive shared use of space in historic urban Catholic parishes.
Helen Ketema is the Research Associate for State Housing and Land Use Policy at the NYU Furman Center. She joins the Furman Center after working as Project Lead for the Infrastructure Institute at the University of Toronto’s School of Cities where she managed training, research, and public engagement projects which promoted affordable, mixed-use, and community-led real estate development. Prior to that, she worked in various capacities as a researcher in the nonprofit sector for organizations in Toronto, Addis Ababa, and Tirana. Helen holds a Masters of Arts from the Faculty of Geography and Planning at the University of Toronto and a B.A in International Development Studies from the University of Toronto.
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