New Saint Andrews College sues Idaho city over zoning

New Saint Andrews College, or NSA, filed a federal lawsuit against its home city of Moscow, Idaho, the Christian liberal arts college said Thursday evening. According to the civil complaint, NSA is seeking an order to block the city from enforcing what the lawsuit described as onerous zoning restrictions on the college’s properties in downtown Moscow. The college is also seeking compensatory damages and attorney’s fees. NSA’s complaint argued that the city’s conduct was targeted and discriminatory, breaking state and federal laws including the First Amendment and the Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act. The Moscow city attorney did not immediately return WORLD’s request for comment on the case.

The complaint stated that NSA received permits allowing it to operate as an educational institution out of its first downtown building in 2003. Two years later, the city changed its zoning code, requiring colleges to operate under a conditional-use permit in the business zone and to provide downtown parking spaces. The city later began restricting allowed downtown parking, making it difficult to fulfil the conditions of the college’s permit, according to the lawsuit. The city in 2019 banned colleges from operating in the business zone, while allowing NSA’s existing operations to continue. The change meant the college wasn’t allowed to expand.

The complaint further stated that the city of Moscow blocked NSA from using a rented building for an art gallery and administrative offices, citing the ban on college use of the area. However, the city allowed the University of Idaho to operate an art gallery and a school office in the area, according to the complaint. The city council also made an exception allowing the University of Idaho to expand parts of its medical school into the business area after the ban, according to the complaint.

The complaint also argued that four of the town’s six council members worked at the University of Idaho and should have recused themselves from decisions about NSA due to the potential for bias. In addition, one council member allegedly said in public that she wanted to fight what she characterized as the Christian nationalist church affiliated with the college, according to court documents.

The college said it filed the lawsuit after years of attempts to resolve the matter through ordinary channels. The college had been in downtown Moscow for nearly 30 years, and had a right to operate in the heart of the city that it loved, according to a statement on social media. The Constitution and state and federal laws don’t permit a city to treat a religious college differently from its neighbors, the statement said. The college also stated that during the lawsuit, operations would continue as normal.

How has the city of Moscow responded? WORLD reached out to the Moscow city attorney on Friday for comment. The city administrator responded a few days later and declined to comment, citing respect for the ongoing legal process.

Dig deeper: Read Liz Lykins’ report on NSA founding board member and professor Doug Wilson’s recent sermon at the Pentagon.