Orem limits tent-style buildings to manufacturing zones

OREM (Daily Herald) -- Churches in Orem may be able to get around city zoning laws in using a controversial tent-like construction because of a federal law exempting religious organizations, but the City Council recently made sure that the so-called tension membrane structures are limited to the city's manufacturing areas.

Partly as a result of the flap created last year when Christ Evangelical Church (now CenterPoint Church) got approval for its new building because of a federal statute preventing cities from imposing zoning requirements that put a "substantial burden" on religious organizations, the City Council wanted more control over where the structures could be used.

At a public hearing in September 2009, residents and neighbors of the church property off Sandhill Road decried the architectural design style the church proposed. They called the structures "circus tents," saying they would be a blight to the city's gateway just south of the Interstate 15 University Parkway interchange.

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