NO VARIANCE REQUIRED TO ALLOW CHURCH PROPERTY TO BE USED TO HOUSE HOMELESS PERSONS.
The Third Department, reversing Supreme Court, determined the proposed use of church property to house homeless persons did not require a variance:
Strictly religious uses and activities are more than prayer and sacrifice and all churches recognize that the area of their responsibility is broader than leading the congregation in prayer. . . . To limit a church to being merely a house of prayer and sacrifice would, in a large degree, be depriving the church of the opportunity of enlarging, perpetuating and strengthening itself and the congregation” … . To that end, “[s]ervices to the homeless have been judicially recognized as religious conduct” … . Matter of Sullivan v Board of Zoning Appeals of City of Albany, 2016 NY Slip Op 07911, 3rd Dept 11-23-16
ZONING (NO VARIANCE REQUIRED TO ALLOW CHURCH PROPERTY TO BE USED TO HOUSE HOMELESS PERSONS)/CHURCH PROPERTY (ZONING, NO VARIANCE REQUIRED TO ALLOW CHURCH PROPERTY TO BE USED TO HOUSE HOMELESS PERSONS)/HOMELESS (ZONING, NO VARIANCE REQUIRED TO ALLOW CHURCH PROPERTY TO BE USED TO HOUSE HOMELESS PERSONS)