In Association of Guineans in Atlanta, Inc. v. Dekalb County, Georgia, the Supreme Court of Georgia reaffirmed the rule that a constitutional challenge to a zoning decision must be made before the zoning body. Appeal Case No. S12A1603 (Ga., Feb. 4, 2013). The court held that the plaintiff, who challenged a denial of its petition for a special use permit for a religious facility, had failed to raise its constitutional challenges to the denial of the application before the board of commissioners. Therefore, the plaintiff was not able to challenge the zoning decision before the superior court.
The court went on, however, to reverse the superior court's dismissal of the plaintiff's claims under the Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act, 42 U.S.C. Section 2000cc. In the second holding, the court reversed the Dekalb County Superior Court because the judge had failed to apply the correct standard for consideration of a motion to dismiss.
