DENVER — Castle Rock’s attempts to stop a church from housing homeless families in vehicles in its parking lot is a violation of the church’s practice of religious freedom, a federal court has ruled.

U.S. District Judge Daniel Domenico issued a preliminary injunction late last week that stops the Douglas County town from using its land use regulations to bar the Rock Church from using an RV and a camping trailer parked behind its main building to provide shelter to those who need it.

“The church stresses that by preventing it from allowing the homeless to live on its property, the town is precluding the church from exercising its religious beliefs regardless of whether it might be possible to provide for the needy in some other way,” Domenico wrote in his 18-page ruling.

The Rock’s lead pastor, Mike Polhemus, did not return requests for comment. Castle Rock town spokeswoman Melissa Hoelting said the town had nothing to say publicly “until we’ve had the opportunity to review the order and discuss options.”

The church sued Castle Rock earlier this year, claiming the town was violating the Religious Land Use and Institutional Persons Act, a 2000 law that protects “individuals, houses of worship, and other religious institutions from discrimination in zoning and landmarking laws,” as described by the U.S. Department of Justice. The town contended that the vehicles being used as temporary shelters in the church’s parking lot violated its zoning regulations.

“A substantial burden on a church’s mission caused by application of a zoning law may violate RLUIPA,” the Rock Church said in its suit.

The most recently available point-in-time survey of homeless individuals in metro Denver found that 72 people were without a home in Douglas County on Jan. 30, 2023. Three of five respondents were experiencing homelessness for the first time, according to the Metro Denver Homeless Initiative.

That compares to the more than 9,000 people the survey found to be without a home throughout the entire seven-county metro area. Safe parking programs, where people who live out of their vehicles can park in church parking lots overnight, have sprouted in Denver and its suburbs in recent years.

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