Clear violation of First Amendment rights.
See Post No. 37.
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https://triblive.com/local/allegheny/13881739-74/couple-sues-sewickley-heights-over-order-banning-religious-activities-at-farm
Tom Davidson | Thursday, July 19, 2018, 12:30 p.m. Couple sues Sewickley Heights over order banning religious activities at farm
Updated 46 minutes ago
(snip) -- The owners of a historic farm in Sewickley Heights have been in a quiet, but lengthy battle over whether they’re allowed to host Bible studies and other religious events at the farm — something the borough contends violates its zoning ordinance.
The Harrisburg-based Independence Law Center filed a federal lawsuit Wednesday on behalf of Scott and Theresa Fetterolf alleging the borough’s attempts to keep them from using their farm for religious purposes violates their civil rights.
“The borough has no business overseeing a group of people reading and discussing a book together on private property — even if that book is the Bible,” Randall Wenger, chief counsel for the Independence Law Center, said in a statement.
(snip) -- The lawsuit said the 32-acre property has been used for such events by its prior owner “for many decades.”
That owner, Nancy Doyle Chalfant, one of the founders of the nonprofit Verland, “opened her home, and her beloved Dundee Farm, to church retreats, seminary picnics, youth groups and many other organizations she supported,” according to her 2012 obituary.
The Fetterolfs attended church with Chalfant and bought the property in 2003, Allegheny County real estate records show. According to the lawsuit, the Fetterolfs bought the property “to carry on the traditions started by Chalfant.”
They did so without incident until Oct. 5, 2017, when the borough served a notice of violation and cease and desist order on the Fetterolfs that said activities including a Bible study, worship night, religious retreats and fundraisers were not permitted in the borough’s historical rural and residential zone without a variance.
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