Port Jervis Settles Religious Discrimination Lawsuit

The City of Port Jervis is set to abolish a law that bans places of worship from commercially zoned districts.

On Tuesday, U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara announced that the United States settled the federal civil rights lawsuit against Port Jervis. Under agreed upon terms, Port Jervis will repeal a Dec. 2015 law that banned places of worships in two of the city’s central business and commercial zoning districts.

The lawsuit can be reinstated if Port Jervis doesn’t amend its zoning laws to comply with federal law which prohibits from discrimination on religious freedom by January 23, 2017.

According to the complaint, filed in federal court, Port Jervis significantly hampered the religious exercise of the Goodwill Evangelical Presbyterian Church, which hoped to build a church in the city’s central business district.

After church officials signed a contract to purchase the property, and received assurances from Port Jervis that it could use the property for a church, city officials adopted a law to ban places of worship in the zoning district, the complaint said.

The settlement should help ensure free religious exercise in Port Jervis, Bharara said.