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Board approves Love Over Crisis conditional use permit despite objections over religious policy
Summary
Shelly Mays-Couch’s Love Over Crisis received a conditional use permit from the Charlotte County Board of Supervisors despite one supervisor’s objection after Mays-Couch said her Christian organization follows biblical principles and would not rent to non-Christians.
The Charlotte County Board of Supervisors approved a conditional use permit for Love Over Crisis on Sept. 12, voting 6–1 after a public hearing in which the owner said the program follows Christian principles and may decline housing to people who do not share those beliefs.
Shelly Mays-Couch, who described her organization as Christian-based and said it has served more than 900 people across 10 counties and currently has about 200 active participants, told the Board she has paid commercial taxes on the property and sought to occupy the building she owns. When asked whether she would rent to someone who was not a Christian, Mays-Couch said her organization follows biblical principles and asserted she had “the right to do so.”
Supervisor Garland H. Hamlett Jr. asked whether a person of another faith would be rented to; Mays-Couch reiterated that Love Over Crisis is Christian-based. Supervisor Hazel Bowman Smith voted against approval; Supervisors Garland H. Hamlett Jr., Will Garnett, Robert L. Shook Jr., Tony Reeves, Walter T. Bailey and Chairman Gary D. Walker voted aye.
The CUP hearing included discussion of hours of operation; Mays-Couch said typical hours would be 9 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. but that employees sometimes work outside those times and that the facility would not be open to the public outside business hours.
The Board’s approval was a land-use decision to allow the proposed operation at the specified location; the action did not create a countywide policy on discrimination, housing eligibility or religious exemptions. The transcript does not record a staff recommendation to deny or approve, nor any legal finding about whether the stated rental practices would violate local, state or federal law.
The Board’s recorded vote was 6–1 to approve the CUP; Supervisor Smith cast the lone dissenting vote. The decision stands as a permit-level land-use action subject to the conditions set in the CUP and any enforcement provisions in applicable law or county code.
