General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: I realize that Joseph Smith is a venerated figure among Mormons, having found those [View all]MineralMan
(146,308 posts)Truly it is. It's one that many communities have tried to use to keep unwanted religious developments from being built. Whether it is a mosque and Muslim school and community center or some other religion-based thing, focusing on that aspect is very weak, legally.
Instead, local government must rely on local land-use and zoning restrictions to keep such developments out. Raising the religious thing to any degree at all is a red flag to the courts.
Lots of real estate developments are the idea of one man (person). Most, in fact. Every big condo development, for example, or entire multi-residential communities. Bringing religion into the argument is specious. If that area of Vermont doesn't want some high-density, mixed-use development, it needs to restrict that universally. It can't discriminate based on religious connections. That trick never works.
In fact, it's just plain wrong to do so. Unconstitutional, actually.