Ohio Pastor Criminally Charged for Letting People Sleep In Church. Again.
Happy Tuesday and welcome to another edition of Rent Free. This week’s stories include:
- A Los Angeles court overturns the California law ending single-family-only zoning and allowing duplexes everywhere.
- Is the cure for screen-addicted kids more pedestrian infrastructure?
- Fresh off legalizing triplexes everywhere, Austin, Texas, considers shrinking minimum lot sizes.
But first, our lead story about yet another case of zoning laws versus the Good Samaritan.
Ohio Pastor Criminally Charged for Sheltering the Homeless…Again
An Ohio pastor is once again being brought up on criminal charges for sheltering people in his church.
On Friday, the city of Bryan, Ohio refiled charges against Chris Avell, the pastor of Dad’s Place, for fire and zoning code violations related to his operation of a 24-hour “Rest and Refresh” ministry at the church’s downtown building.
The city argues the church’s 24-hour ministry is in fact just a residential homeless shelter, which is not allowed at the commercially zoned property. The fire code violations make it not only unauthorized but also unsafe. Each violation, if not corrected, is punishable by a $1,000 daily fine.
“We appreciate that Dad’s Place has tried to help people in need,” said Bryan Mayor Carrie Schlade in a statement. “But putting these people’s lives at risk in the case of a fire or other dangers is not helping them.”
“Here we are with the pastor facing new criminal charges for caring for people inside his church,” First Liberty Institute attorney Jeremy Dys, who is representing Dad’s Place, told Reason in an interview on Friday.
Reason covered Avell’s case back in January when he was first charged with 18 criminal counts for similar zoning and fire code violations.
In response to those charges, Dad’s Place filed a federal lawsuit against the city, arguing that its sheltering of people in the church is part of its religious mission and therefore protected by the First Amendment and federal law that safeguards religious land uses from zoning restrictions.
“It may not look like St. Paul’s cathedral, but it is in every sense a church,” said Dys.
Since Avell was first charged, a federal district court judge mediated an agreement between the city and the church. The city agreed to drop charges against Avell in February and also to hold off on any enforcement actions against the church. In exchange, Dad’s Place agreed to cease “residential operations” and fix all fire code violations the city had identified at the property.
“We removed the washer and drier they asked us to, we removed the stove they asked us to. We stopped cooking with anything that would splatter grease,” says Dys. “We’ve been doing whatever we can do to be reasonable with the city. And what we’re met with is inspections at 5 am by the Fire Chief.”
According to Dad’s Place’s court filings, after an early March inspection at 5:30 a.m. by Bryan’s fire chief, the city issued a new demand for sprinklers to be installed at the church. That visit also found people sleeping in the church, which the city contends violates its agreement to cease “residential operations.”
Dys says that Dad’s Place has gone out of its way to cease residential operations at the church, including by moving a congregant and volunteer who experienced regular seizures out of the church and into an apartment rented by the church. The man died earlier this month after having a seizure while alone in his apartment.
The city contends in a press release that the Dad’s Place unauthorized shelter is taxing police resources and that police have been called to the property 51 times over the past year.
Dys says that Dad’s place and the city will have a status conference in the federal lawsuit today. Avell will have a hearing on the latest criminal charges sometime in May.
(You can read some of Reason‘s past coverage of the problems zoning creates for homeless shelters here.)
Los Angeles Judge Rules California Law Ending Single-Family Zoning Unconstitutional
California’s landmark law ending single-family-only zoning has been struck down by a Los Angeles Superior Court judge as irrational, overreaching meddling in cities’ local control.
S.B. 9 was one of several Yes in My Backyard (YIMBY) bills to pass in 2021 with the goal of liberalizing local zoning restrictions on “missing middle” housing like duplexes and garden apartments.
The law requires localities to “ministerially approve” duplexes and lot splits in single-family-zoned neighborhoods. That means local governments don’t have the discretion to say no to these projects, nor can they subject them to public hearings and endless processes either.
After the law passed, several Southern California cities sued to block it because it interfered with their power as charter cities to set their own zoning laws.
The California Constitution gives charter
Article from Reason.com
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