ALLENTOWN, Pa. — Two Allentown nonprofits want to serve meals to all who visit their community centers, but the city's zoning ordinance only allows them to feed senior citizens.
The Lehigh Conference of Churches and RCI Village Properties — an arm of Ripple Community Inc. — say the “unduly restrictive” regulation forces them to turn away many hungry people because they’re not old enough.
Feeding only senior citizens “creates an enforcement issue” for staff at community centers and offers “no perceived benefit to the public health,” the organizations say in their petition to amend Allentown's zoning ordinance.
Ripple's rejected center was "extraordinary opportunity to address ... the evolving needs in our community.”Ripple Executive Director Sherri Binder
And the ordinance is “ambiguous” as it doesn’t define the term “senior citizens,” they write.
A public hearing is slated for 6 p.m. Wednesday, just before Allentown City Council considers changing the definition of a community center.
The nonprofits want the city to eliminate a sentence that says community centers “may also include the … preparation of meals for senior citizens.”
Trying to feed the community
Lehigh Conference of Churches, which runs the Dubbs Memorial Community Center at 457 W. Allen St., served about 75,000 meals last year, Executive Director Abigail Goldfarb told a city council committee last month.
It also operates its Daybreak drop-in shelter at that property.
"The center was an "extraordinary opportunity to address ... the evolving needs in our community.”Ripple Community Inc. Executive Director Sherri Binder
RCI wants to serve meals in its proposed community center in the former Emmanuel United Church of Christ at 1547 W. Chew St.
Allentown zoning officials denied Ripple’s community center proposal in April 2024 after two lengthy meetings, including one where 10 residents spoke out against it.
But dozens more at that meeting showed their support for the community center.
Ripple Executive Director Sherri Binder said the center was an "extraordinary opportunity to address ... the evolving needs in our community.”
That denial forced Binder and Ripple to re-evaluate plans to move all of its operations from its current facility at 1335 Linden St.
Ripple earned approval for its plans to convert the longtime church into a dozen “deeply affordable” apartments. It could also house the nonprofit’s offices and three medical-respite rooms.
Emmanuel United Church of Christ parish donated its building to Ripple in 2023.
