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SAN DIEGO, Feb. 20, 2013 /Christian Newswire/ -- The Academy of Our Lady of Peace (AOLP) has settled its lawsuit with the City of San Diego, effectively ending the nearly yearlong dispute between San Diego's oldest high school and the city in which it resides. The city has agreed to pay to relocate two homes on AOLP's campus while razing a third by May 1, 2014, clearing the way for construction. The settlement also includes provisions limiting the total cost of all permits and inspections to $100,000, fast-track all permits for completion and a $500,000 cash settlement.

Approved by city council on February 12, the settlement agreement replaces a previous jury verdict. With the lawsuit settled, AOLP can start construction plans and plans to break ground in June 2014.

Dalton, the country's foremost expert on RLUIPA law with nearly 20 past cases across the country, has never lost.

Congress unanimously passed RLUIPA in 2000 to address local government discrimination in addressing land use applications submitted by religious organizations and in doing so, leveled the playing field for religious uses and secular uses.

At issue in Academy of Our Lady of Peace v. City of San Diego was the City's refusal to approve the all-girls Catholic high school's plan to modernize its campus and facilities. The modernization was needed to add properly sized classrooms and increase the number of advanced placement course offerings, thereby continuing the tradition inaugurated in 1882 of superior education for the region's future female leaders. With no new school facilities built since 1965, and with all adaptive reuse possibilities for existing structures exhausted, the proposed modernization plan is critical to the school's future and to the education of the region's young women.

A two-week jury trial resulted in a $1.1 million cash settlement for AOLP in late 2012. In lieu of an appeal, the City and AOLP came to an agreement on settlement terms in February 2013, providing an expedited permitting and inspection process to help AOLP break ground by June of 2014.