With cold temps coming, Lenexa and church need to negotiate a way to shelter homeless
Work it out, the judge told the church and the state — in this case, Shawnee Mission Unitarian Universalist Church and the City of Lenexa, Kansas. And particularly with a cold front moving in and homeless people in Johnson County with nowhere to go, that’s what they’ve got to do.
The church, which is trying to open a temporary, winter-time homeless shelter in a city without one, has sued Lenexa, citing its First Amendment right to practice what it preaches by doing taking in the homeless.
At a Thursday hearing attended by no opponents of the shelter and some 75 church members and supporters — easy to count because they were dressed in orange — District Court Judge Daniel Crabtree heard arguments on whether or not to grant the church a temporary restraining order that would allow it to open its doors to 40 people in need of shelter.
A lawyer for the church, Daniel Dalton, argued that the church had no choice but to sue because there is no application process — on purpose, in a place that doesn’t want any homeless shelters in any part of town.
David Jack, an attorney for the city of Lenexa, answered that the city had been taken by surprise by the lawsuit, when officials thought they were just starting to negotiate.
In a memo to the court in support of its motion to dismiss the case, lawyers for the city wrote that the church “has provided few written materials to the City related to their intended homeless shelter (other than the instant lawsuit), and never made any formal application for operation of the shelter. Nonetheless, a City official sent a letter to the Plaintiff on October 23, 2019, advising the Plaintiff that any such homeless shelter was not allowed under the zoning code. The letter closed by expressing willingness to work with the Plaintiff to find an appropriate location for a homeless shelter.”
Crabtree said that the cold front moving in couldn’t make him go any faster in looking at case law, so the best solution would be for the parties to come to an agreement on their own.
After the hearing, attorneys for both sides made that sound possible, though they still didn’t agree.
City attorney Cindy Harmison said, “The city’s always been willing,” but it would have to be in an area zoned for hotels rather than in an area zoned for residential use. That’s where the church is.
Dalton said that his understanding of a brief post-hearing conversation with lawyers for the city was that the parties would be negotiating terms and conditions, but would not be looking for another location for the shelter.
“The hearing went well,” he said.
Hopefully, the negotiations will, too.