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Monday, July 15, 2002

By Timothy McNulty and Tom Barnes, Post-Gazette Staff Writers

A proposal to tighten Pittsburgh's zoning rules on religious institutions and homeless shelters is provoking resentment in the city's religious community, but supporters say the plans are overdue and necessary to safeguard neighborhood life.

The rules, proposed by city Councilwoman Barbara Burns of the North Side, grew in large part from community fears after the murder in 2000 of an 11-year-old boy by a homeless man in East Allegheny, and the opening this year of a church-based homeless center nearby. Burns' proposal would strengthen a community's ability to fight such centers before they open.

"You should live in my neighborhood for a week and you will understand my concern" about drop-in centers for the homeless, soup kitchens and other nonprofit social services, said Burns, who lives in East Allegheny.

"I wrote this from a fair-minded perspective," she said. "We want churches to provide valuable services, but we need to ensure the process is fair and good for all people."

Though the zoning proposal sprouts from the North Side, the impact on religious institutions and social service agencies would be citywide.

Church leaders and homeless advocates say the rules could simultaneously jeopardize religious freedom and bind them with bureaucratic red tape.

"Certainly the city has valid police powers," said the Rev. Ronald Lengwin, spokesman for the Catholic Diocese of Pittsburgh. "But enacting an ordinance requiring a religious group to seek approval of a municipal authority simply because the religious group wants to expand is excessive government intrusion."

In late 2000, East Allegheny residents were horrified when Scott Drake was brutally murdered near their neighborhood. A homeless man, Joseph Cornelius, was sentenced to life in prison for the mutilation death.

Early this year residents were further shocked to learn that United Allegheny Church of Christ had, without public notice, opened a center in their neighborhood for homeless people to drop in on Sunday afternoons. The entrance is across Lockhart Street from the Drake home.

Church officials said it was their Christian duty to minister to needy, down-and-out people. But Lynn Glorieux, president of the East Allegheny Community Council, said she was "really disappointed that no one from the church approached us when they were planning to do this."

Concerned residents contacted Burns. She in turn contacted Patrick Ford, who'd just become city zoning administrator in January, on how the zoning rules governing drop-in centers, community recreation centers, homeless shelters, soup kitchens and other nonprofit facilities could be tightened.

Ford, facing his first big challenge on the job, has come up with a draft regulation proposal that will be aired tomorrow at a city Planning Commission hearing. After several weeks of debate, the agency will recommend what action should be taken by City Council, which will have the final decision.

In an interview last week, Ford conceded that his proposal has already caused some concern that red tape could make it harder for churches and other social service agencies to minister to needy people on city streets. But he said the idea is to draft legislation to standardize procedures for regulating community centers, homeless shelters and similar facilities run by schools, religious institutions and other groups.

He also wants to ensure that residents of any neighborhood affected by such facilities know about them and have a chance to express any concerns before they begin operation.

According to the proposal, those concerns could include loss of privacy; changes in neighborhood character; loss of property values; pedestrian and vehicle traffic; hours of operation; noise; and public safety and morals.

"If there is an impact on a neighborhood from a social service center," Ford said, "what is the fair way to mitigate that impact?"

Ford expects tomorrow's hearing to be well-attended, so much so that he's already drafted a list of answers to often-asked questions:

"Question No. 1: How does this legislation affect me if I am a church wishing to expand the services that I offer to my congregation?"

Ford wrote, "This legislation does not prohibit churches [from creating such services] nor does it prohibit the expansion of services offered by the churches."

It does, however, require churches and schools to obtain permits from the Zoning Board of Adjustment or the city zoning officer if they want to expand facilities in a residential area. Such permission has been required in the past, but some institutions apparently didn't know about it and didn't seek it, Ford said.

He said that Pittsburgh, like any other city, has the legal right to regulate social service programs run by religious institutions.

"The Supreme Court has long held that zoning and land-use policies are a valid exercise of a local government's 'police power' to protect its citizens from detrimental impacts of growth and development," he said.

Any regulations the city imposes on a church, however, "cannot substantially burden the church," he added.

A new federal law, the Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act of 2000, prevents a city from placing "unreasonable limits" on church gatherings or programs, he said.

Church leaders have been buzzing about the bill, and worrying it could affect everything from community outreach to other activities like Bible studies. Since most churches are in residential neighborhoods, they worry they will have to notify the city and the neighbors every time they hold events.

"If we hold vacation Bible school or a Narcotics Anonymous meeting, we'd have to get a permit. I think it's ridiculous," said Jean Chess, a deacon at St. Andrew's Episcopal church in Highland Park.

Members of the Christian Leaders Fellowship, an umbrella organization for leaders of 10 large, local Christian denominations, are expected to speak against the rules tomorrow.

Social service advocates say that working with nearby neighborhoods while serving needy people is always a delicate balance. Increasing government or neighborhood scrutiny could keep their agencies from doing their work, they fear.

"Basically we'll have to spend time on this, taking away resources and support for people who need us. The time could be spent elsewhere," said Janet Holtz, director of the Northside Common Ministries, which runs a shelter, food pantry and other services in the Central North Side.

"We are sensitive to the neighborhoods and have an obligation to them," said Mark Bibro, the board chairman for East End Cooperative Ministries. "But to make this a zoning issue, the pendulum is going from one side to another."

But Burns said she's tired of surprises. A personal care home for elderly in Brighton Heights began accepting parolees without community notice and one resident was robbed, she said. The ARC House in East Allegheny began accepting people in lieu of their going to jail. A Manchester agency began putting homeless people in a building across from an elementary school without telling the community.

"This proposal could be called truth-in-advertising," she said. "Neighborhoods shouldn't feel economically and socially put on because of the needs of individuals or the agencies that purport to serve them."