Separation of Church and State and Real Estate

A recent suit in US District Court over whether an Arlington County affordable housing project violated the first amendment brings to light some questions over partnerships formed to develop real estate projects.A local resident filed the suit, alleging that an affordable housing development above a church violated the separation of church and state. Bozzuto Development is building the Views at Clarendon, consisting of eight floors of primarily subsidized housing for low- and moderate-income tenants above a new church sanctuary and child-development center. The church, seeking to renovate its sanctuary, sold the air rights for $5.6 million to a nonprofit group that’s building the apartments. Some $48 million in county and state loans and tax credits is helping finance the project. The first amendment challenge brought on by the resident, Peter Glassman, claimed that taxpayer money was being used to fund the church renovation and is “enriching a religious institution.” According to local reports, Glassman claimed the subsidy for each apartment was excessive, that the church received more than market value for its air rights, that the shared lobby, entrance and other brick-and-mortar elements would entangle the church and the subsidized housing,” and that entanglement was furthered by the amount of church members on the nonprofit board.Glassman lost the suit due to a lack of proof, though he stated his intention to appeal the decision. The multifamily units are slated to open at the end of 2011.Though in this case the first amendment challenge seems to be another tactic used by NIMBY-ists to block an affordable housing project-after all, local residents tried to block the project a few years ago on zoning grounds-it does bring to surface certain questions about public/private partnerships like this. How fine is the line between church and state when the private partner is a religious institution?