ACLU sues Chester County community over homeless shelter dispute

I'm not sure what it has to do with civil liberties, but the ACLU has filed a lawsuit against North Coventry Township to force the municipality to allow a church to open a year-round homeless shelter in violation of township zoning laws.

From an article in today's edition of The Pottstown Mercury:

The lawsuit, filed in the U.S. District Court for Eastern Pennsylvania, charges that the township and its officials violated the church's rights under the federal Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act (RLUIPA), the First Amendment and the state Religious Freedom Restoration Act.

The suit names the township as a defendant, along with township zoning officer and building code official Deborah Russo. It seeks to force the township to allow the church to provide temporary emergency shelter to the homeless in the winter.

The legal action stems from an ongoing battle between the township and Shenkel UCC that began in November 2007. At that time, the church sought to participate in a rotating homeless shelter program that is a project of Pottstown area churches involved in what is known as Ministries on Main Street.

Read the full story at the newspaper's Web site.