UPDATED: Supreme Court Says Lamb Center Can Keep Showers, Laundry

UPDATE (Friday, 11 a.m.): Lamb Center Chairman Frank McLeskey said the court decision comes as a relief to TLC volunteers and guests. He added that TLC will continue its search for a new location outside of Fairfax Circle. Read his full remarks:

"The court's decision confirms that The Lamb Center has been operating since 1992 in accordance with the laws of Fairfax City.  Many of our guests thought that if the court decided against the center, it would be shut down or its services reduced so severely that they would not have a place to go for counseling, hot meals, showers and laundry. The court's decision  assures them that The Lamb Center will be there for them. Finally the decision allows The Lamb Center to do what we have been doing for the past three years, that is search for a viable property to relocate our services and programs, but without the added pressure to move which would probably have been the case had the court ruled in favor of Fairfax City. We are continuing the search, and at the same time,  will  serve the poor and homeless in our present location until we find that new home which will be a "win-win" for our guests, the city, the county,  and the surrounding businesses."

ORIGINAL:

Virginia Supremes ruled in favor of today. They overturned a that put the future of the private non-profit that feeds, clothes and cares for the homeless near Fairfax Circle in jeopardy.

The Supreme Court decision said Fairfax City accepted TLC's laundry and shower services when it granted the counseling center non-residential use permits in 1992 and 2001. The Center's laundry and shower services weren't questioned by zoning officials until 2006.

"The showers and laundry facilities were known to be of the Lamb Center's operations when the city issued the permits in 1992 and 2001," the order reads. "In other words, the city twice determined showers and laundry services are permissible accessory uses to the counseling center."

The private nonprofit  in November 2011 after a Fairfax County Circuit Court judge ruled that the Lamb Center's services overreach its use permit. 

TLC's legal troubles began when the Fairfax City zoning administrator cited TLC with two violations in August 2008. The admin said TLC's activities went beyond the general office, business uses allowed in a C2 retail commercial district. What was once considered a counseling center had turned into a day care facility for the homeless. The zoning administrator saw no place for an organization providing food, showers and laundering for underprivileged in a C2 district.

TLC appealed the violations. Fairfax City's Board of Zoning Appeals sided with the center in April 2009. The city then sued its own Board of Zoning Appeals, taking the case to Fairfax Circuit Court.

In the May 2011 circuit court decision, the judge sided with Fairfax City against its own Board of Zoning Appeals. Now that ruling has been overturned.

Patch has reached out to the Center and Fairfax City for comment. Check back for more information as it becomes available.

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