The operator of a transitional residential facility for homeless people in Tallahassee is alleging in a federal court that the city’s effort to shut the facility down flies in the face of the mission’s religious speech rights and religious beliefs.
The City Walk Urban Mission, a Christian nonprofit group, filed the lawsuit this month in the Northern District of Florida, alleging city policies are unconstitutional. The complaint seeks a preliminary injunction against city zoning practices that seek to stop the operation of City Walk’s 64-bed facility.
“Plaintiffs consider the operation of the transitional residential facility to be a religious practice and an integral part of their religious mission,” the Feb. 7 lawsuit states.
The city’s opposition to the injunction, which was filed Wednesday, says the city’s Development Review Committee (DRC) denied City Walk permission to operate the facility in March of last year.
“Specifically, the DRC found (a) the shelter would unreasonably adversely impact the residential properties and businesses in the area, and (b) that as proposed, the shelter would not provide adequate supervision and security, and (c) that the shelter would constitute a private nuisance,” the city said in its opposition to the motion.
City Walk’s attorney, Gary Edinger, said the group sees its activities as a central part of its exercise of religion. The city’s discretionary zoning policies mean that City Walk’s ability to engage in a religious exercise is dependent on government officials giving it the OK, according to Edinger, who added that the process adds up to prior restraint of religious expression.
“The thing about Tallahassee is that this kind of a mission cannot locate anywhere in the city without special government permission,” he told the Florida Record.
A hearing on the injunction is scheduled for March 4 – a timeline that Edinger described as expedited. The city has filed code enforcement proceedings against City Walk, he said, and officials are trying to shut it down.
“City Walk’s claims are very well founded in the law,” Edinger said. “We’re in exactly the right forum for it.”