SALEM, Ore. — The city of West Linn’s rejection of a church plan to build a meeting place amid single-family homes didn’t violate a federal land-use law protecting religious freedom, the Oregon Supreme Court ruled yesterday.

The unanimous high court agreed with a lower court that reversed a ruling by the state Land Use Board of Appeals.

That board had concluded West Linn’s denial of a permit sought by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints violated the federal law by unduly hindering the church’s constitutional right to free exercise of religion.

The ruling was the state Supreme Court’s first on the federal Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act, which was passed in 2000.

The law prohibits any government land-use restrictions that put “substantial burdens” on religious freedom unless the government establishes a compelling reason for the regulations.

Neighbors objected to the Mormon church’s proposal to build a meeting house and 179-space parking lot on a 3.8-acre tract surrounded by homes. Church leaders said the facility was needed because of crowding at services in a meeting place in nearby Lake Oswego.

West Linn officials said the proposed development was too big for a residential zone, that the building wasn’t compatible with the area and that planned buffering wouldn’t adequately screen the building and parking lot from homes.

The Supreme Court, upholding the state Court of Appeals, said the church was free to submit a new plan for building the meeting place as conditional use in the residential zone.

The Supreme Court said the additional expense and delay in submitting a new plan and continued crowding at the Lake Oswego facility do not constitute the kind of substantial burdens that are barred under the federal law.

“The hardships imposed on the church are likely to be relatively short-lived,” the court said in the opinion written by Justice Thomas Balmer.