An Ohio judge has issued a final ruling that throws out a lawsuit filed by a city against a local pastor who operated a round-the-clock homeless outreach program on church grounds.
Last week, Judge James D. Bates of the Williams County Court of Common Pleas released a conclusive decision in the case involving Fire Chief Douglas Pool of the Bryan Fire Department against Dad’s Place and Riehle Rentals, LLC.
The legal dispute centered on a homeless ministry led by Pastor Chris Avell at Dad’s Place in Bryan, where city officials argued that the church was not complying with zoning laws and building regulations.
Among the city’s concerns was a requirement from Fire Chief Douglas Pool that the church install a sprinkler system, a costly upgrade the congregation stated it could not afford.
In his ruling, Bates stated that “Pool has not identified a specific interest here that would justify shutting down Dad's Place because it lacks a sprinkler system” and that “his decision to wait years before enforcing the fire code confirms that no such interest exists.”
The judge further wrote, “Pool has also failed to prove that the City's fire-code enforcement against Dad's Place is the least restrictive means of achieving the City's interests” and added, “Here, there are multiple alternatives to forcing the Church to shut down its ministry for lack of a sprinkler system, any one of which is fatal to Chief Pool's case under strict scrutiny.”
Bates also emphasized the potential consequences of granting the city’s request, explaining that “an injunction would inflict irreparable harm on the Church by shutting down its ministry” and that the “balance of harms therefore tips decidedly against the injunction.”
He continued, “Chief Pool has failed to prove that the public interest would be advanced by the issuance of a permanent injunction enjoining Dad's Place from continuing to live out its faith by serving the vulnerable population of Bryan.”
As a result, the court dismissed the complaint with prejudice, meaning the case is permanently closed and cannot be brought back to court.
Pastor Avell began offering the 24-hour homeless ministry in 2023, but within months, city officials filed 18 criminal charges related to alleged building code violations.
While those charges were later dropped after the church agreed to pursue proper permits and certifications, new charges emerged following an unannounced inspection by the fire chief in April 2024.
In January of the following year, a Bryan Municipal Court judge imposed a $200 fine on Avell and handed down a 60-day suspended jail sentence, though that penalty was later put on hold by Ohio’s Sixth District Court of Appeals.
