Ohio pastor arraigned after being charged for housing homeless at church

[rambot]

Um, it hasn't been shut down. Yet.

If it is shut down, it will not be because it's "not safe". It will be because the area they are housing the homeless is zoned for business and the city says that it cannot be approved as a conditional use otherwise.

But if it's not properly zoned for it, why didn't it get shut down because it's not properly zoned?

To solve this "simple" problem, the church would have had to purchase another facility, something I'm guessing they don't have the finances to do. The city alluded to this in their press release when they said:

Also, there are places in the City where Dad's Place likely could operate a safe homeless shelter that would be consistent with the zoning code. For example, the City also contacted individuals in charge of selling a facility in Bryan that, pending zoning approval, could be used by Dad's Place. This facility is in an area of the City that would permit individuals to sleep in the building.​

You should take 5 minutes and read the press release above to understand this issue before you comment further to prevent yourself from spreading any more misinformation.

Apologies. You are correct. I read this and miscontrued:

Ruskey's statement also alleged that there were "numerous State Fire Code violations that the tenant and property owner were made aware of."

"A reasonable amount of time was given for both the tenant and property owner to fix the issues. Due to the safety of all involved the city moved forward with filing charges," the statement also said.

It does kind of read like the impetus for filing the charges was that they didn't fix safety issues.

They COULD have filed charges straight up when it was not zoned appropriately but they didn't. Why not?

As I mentioned in an earlier post, it would be in the best interest of everyone involved if they would stop with the criminal charges and lawsuits and sat down to work together.

Agreed.

 

[SimplyMe]

They did. 13 of the 18 violations cited have been addressed. It's not clear what is happening with the other 5 violations, but they have not been resolved to the city's satisfaction as of yet.

To be clear, that is 13 of 18 serious violations -- not of all the violations. And it is further worth noting that one of the violations led to a gas leak, that luckily was caught before it caused a major tragedy and wasn't fixed by the church.

 

[probinson]

To be clear, that is 13 of 18 serious violations

Not all of the 18 violations were "serious". You can read them in the link I posted above. Some of them were VERY simple things, like an extension cord plugged into an adapter, or a face plate missing from an outlet. Others were quite serious, like the LP tank being used for cooking inside.

And it is further worth noting that one of the violations led to a gas leak, that luckily was caught before it caused a major tragedy and wasn't fixed by the church.

Gas leaks are always fixed by the gas company. When you smell gas, you get out and call the gas company. This happened to me this past year. A pinhole leak in the gas line for my hot water heater caused my wife to smell gas. We called the gas company, and they came and fixed it.

We don't know if the installation of the gas dryer "led to" the gas leak. Sometimes gas leaks just happen, as was the case for the pinhole leak I had to have fixed. My friend unfortunately lost his home to a gas leak that formed on a gas heater that had been installed for well over 10 years.

It's hard to say why there was a gas leak in the church or what caused it. Thankfully, it was caught and fixed before any damage could result from it.

 

[probinson]

But if it's not properly zoned for it, why didn't it get shut down because it's not properly zoned?

If it is shut down, that will be why. What's really odd to me is that the city says in their press release that there is a homeless shelter that operates legally right next door to the church, yet they say that the church cannot be zoned for that. Unless I'm misunderstanding something, which is entirely possible.

Apologies. You are correct. I read this and miscontrued:

I commend you for acknowledging your mistake.

It does kind of read like the impetus for filing the charges was that they didn't fix safety issues.

The press release lays out the timing much better, but basically a complaint was filed, zoning issues were identified, when the zoning issues were not addressed (i.e. stop housing and feeding the homeless), the fire inspector was sent in and THEN the safety issues were identified.

So as I see it, there are two different things going on here.

The first is that the city says that the church cannot house the homeless because it violates the zoning and they are unwilling to make an exception.

The second is that there are some very real safety issues that need to be addressed.

However, it sounds like even if the church sufficiently addresses all of the fire code violations raised, they STILL will not be permitted to house the homeless there because of zoning violations.

They COULD have filed charges straight up when it was not zoned appropriately but they didn't. Why not?

The complaint (also linked above) makes no mention of safety issues. It is based solely on zoning violations.

 

[seeking.IAM]

Charges have now been dropped. Article here.

 

[probinson]

Excellent news. It sounds like both sides have decided to work together.

Thursday, Bryan city officials and the First Liberty Institute announced that the city had agreed to drop all criminal charges against the pastor in a press release from First Liberty. ​

​

In return, Dad’s Place has agreed to find proper permits and building certifications in order to accommodate those they want to help while following city ordinances.​

 

[Christson 24]

Ohio pastor arraigned after being charged for housing homeless at church

An Ohio pastor was arraigned in municipal court on Thursday after being slapped with 18 zoning law violation charges related to keeping his church open around the clock to house the homeless

www.christianpost.com

God will vindicate the pastor and he will be set free there always be a reparcorsi for following the Bible principal men will persecute you for your believe but never give up because you shall triumph

 

[Vambram]

God will vindicate the pastor and he will be set free there always be a reparcorsi for following the Bible principal men will persecute you for your believe but never give up because you shall triumph.

Amen.

 

[Desk trauma]

God will vindicate the pastor and he will be set free there always be a reparcorsi for following the Bible principal men will persecute you for your believe but never give up because you shall triumph

Having to abide by local zoning ordinances, horrifying.