How Mercy Culture beat Fort Worth’s bureaucracy and politics to get its shelter built
It took two years, but Mercy Culture finally succeeded in getting the city of Fort Worth’s approval to build a 100-bed residence for victims of human trafficking.
The shelter, known as the Justice Residences, is part of Mercy Culture’s Justice Reform ministry that combats human trafficking. The shelter will be built on the north side of the church’s campus at 1701 Oakhurst Scenic Dr.
The Fort Worth City Council approved plans for the development by a 6-4 margin at its Dec. 10 meeting.
The move drew cheers from the hundreds of Mercy Culture supporters who easily filled the city council chamber, a nearby overflow room, and the ground floor atrium of the old city hall building at 200 Texas St.
Pastor Heather Schott, the executive director of Mercy Culture’s Justice Reform ministry, gave the glory to Jesus.
Residents in the nearby Oakhurst neighborhood, who have been ardently opposed to the project over traffic and safety concerns, expressed disappointment in the decision in a Dec. 11 Instagram post.
The building of the shelter was far from guaranteed.
A slight change to the project’s description, the threat of legal action, and good old-fashioned public engagement helped the project get the necessary city approvals to move forward.
Here’s a look at what went down.
The initial proposal
Mercy Culture’s first attempt to build the Justice Residences came in January 2022, when the church applied to update the layout of its campus to include the new development. This process is called a site plan amendment.
Unlike a zoning change, site plan amendments don’t require property owners to justify how the land will be used, because it is assumed that the use isn’t changing.
Instead, the city evaluates more of the technical aspects of the development like whether it would block a fire lane or a drainage ditch.
The project went before the zoning commission in February 2022, and initially received a warm reception for the mission of helping survivors of human trafficking.
However, Oakhurst residents raised concerns that the shelter on Mercy Culture’s campus would exacerbate existing parking issues along Oakhurst Scenic Drive.
“This is a linebacker of a church, and it bought a skinny jeans property,” said Chanin Scanlon, former Oakhurst Neighborhood Association president, speaking at the February 2022 zoning commission hearing.
City staff also determined the church needed to apply for a zoning change because the project’s application reflected more of a residential use, and Mercy Culture’s zoning only allowed for “church-related activities.”
While the application clearly stated the Justice Residences would be a shelter for victims of human trafficking, it made no mention of religion, according to publicly available city documents.
Staff made the change shortly after the February 2022 commission meeting, according to city documents. This was done with Mercy Culture’s full knowledge, a city spokesperson wrote in an email to the Star-Telegram.
The zoning commission twice delayed weighing in on the case to allow for church and neighborhood representatives to discuss the plan. That meeting, held at Mercy Culture on March 31, 2022, left Oakhurst residents with more questions than answers.
Heather Schott only answered questions submitted in writing, however, residents at the time said none of their questions were included.
When asked about what kind of therapy would be provided to victims and what licensing would be required for staff, Schott didn’t provide clear answers.
“It was just them preaching about why it’s the right thing to do that was it,” said Kathryn Omarkhail, vice president of the Oakhurst Neighborhood Association, in a July interview.
Members of the association voted overwhelmingly to oppose the project days before it was scheduled to go back to the zoning commission in April 2022. Mercy Culture pulled the project shortly after that vote.
‘Witches and warlocks’
For roughly two years after Mercy Culture withdrew its zoning change application, the church waged a war of words against anyone opposed the Justice Residences.
Landon Schott, husband of Heather and co-lead pastor at Mercy Culture Church, called it evil that Oakhurst residents were trying to stop the church from building the Justice Residences, during a May 1, 2022, sermon.
Schott stressed he wasn’t calling individual people evil, but went on to say, “If you’re trying to stop us from us from helping survivors, it’s demonic, and we’re not intimidated by your demons.”
He went a step further a year later when, during a May 21, 2023, sermon, he called Oakhurst residents “an insane demonic resistance,” and accused some of being “witches and warlocks” conducting “seances with feces and blood.”
Schott acknowledged in the sermon the discomfort some of his congregants had with calling Oakhurst residents demonic. However, he said: “I’m not talking to people. I’m talking to devils.”
Rick Herring, a former city council candidate and former moderator of the Riverside Alliance, told the Star-Telegram in May 2023 that he wasn’t a demon, witch or warlock, but rather someone concerned about adding a dense residence to a single family neighborhood.
“That’s what it boils down to, is basic elements of zoning that we have in place in the city of Fort Worth to protect neighborhoods and businesses and churches from uses that are not compatible,” he said.
Mercy Culture did make some attempts to address neighborhood concerns about traffic and safety.
The church put out a flyer and a page on its website noting the development would add 20 parking spaces to Mercy Culture’s lot, and the building would have a security fence, and lighting to protect both victims and the neighborhood.
Neighbors weren’t swayed, with some arguing the need for a fence was proof the shelter would bring crime to the neighborhood.
However, a 2019 study by the Institute for Shelter Care found most shelters had little to no security incidents. That’s not to say safety issues don’t come up, but they aren’t as prevalent as people would think, the report said.
A second coming
The first inkling Mercy Culture was reigniting efforts to build the Justice Residences came in February 2024.
A representative for a representative for state Rep. Nate Schatzline, a Fort Worth Republican who is also a pastor at Mercy Culture, reached out to Fort Worth City council member Jeanette Martinez, whose district includes the church, to discuss the project, according to emails from Martinez obtained by the Star-Telegram through a public records request.
Schatzline’s representative noted the project had faced bureaucratic hurdles in the past, but said Mercy Culture had made changes and wanted to discuss them before the case went before the council.
Martinez didn’t signal an opinion either way, but expressed a willingness to hear Schatzline’s pitch, according to the email.
Then, on April 8, the Star-Telegram reported that Mercy Culture had filed with a state licensing agency to build a $13.2 million “religious discipleship center” on its campus.
At the time, it wasn’t clear whether the center was a reincarnation of the Justice Residences, however, Jan Buck, moderator of the Riverside Alliance, suspected as much in an April 8 email to Martinez.
“I want to stay ahead of whatever they’re up to,” Buck told Martinez, adding that she was coordinating with the leadership of the Oakhurst Neighborhood Association.
A flurry of permits
Everything was quiet until late June when Martinez received a constituent email objecting to the project. She responded by reaching out to Development Services director D.J. Harrell to ask if any permits had been processed.
She referenced previous reports in the Star-Telegram that noted construction could start as early as July 1 .
No permits had been filed, but representatives for the city promised to reach out to Mercy Culture and let them know they couldn’t start construction.
“We will monitor the location July 1 and if construction begins without permit — code compliance will take action,” said a city staffer said.
When Mercy Culture did eventually apply for a building permit on July 9, Martinez reached out to the city’s zoning director Stephen Murray to ask whether the project would require a zoning change.
Murray wrote back that the Justice Residences didn’t comply with the city’s land use rules, and the church would need to apply for a rezoning before it could build a residential development on its property.
This would trigger the stricter land-use scrutiny rather the lower bar of complying with technical building codes.
The church applied for site plan amendment on Aug. 5, this time listing the project as a center meant to “disciple women to spiritual healing,” according to the permit application.
Despite the emphasis on the religious use, city staff still advised Mercy Culture it would need a “full blown zoning change” to get approval, according to an Aug. 29 email from Murray to Buck from the Riverside Alliance.
The lawyers get involved
On Sept. 5, Mercy Culture’s lawyer Kyle Fonville of Fort Worth emailed LaShondra Stingfellow, the assistant development services director, in an effort to break the administrative deadlock.
He argued the Justice Residences’ use as a “discipleship center” put it within the realm of a church-related activity, which is allowed under Mercy Culture’s current zoning.
While the site plan amendment would still need council approval, Fonville asserted that delaying the process by forcing Mercy Culture to go through a zoning change was a violation of the church’s constitutional rights.
He attached an 89-page legal brief outlining the church’s position, which threatened legal action if Mercy Culture’s site plan amendment wasn’t approved.
“I hope that we can move past some of the questionable events that have transpired on what should be a rather routine administrative process in approving this religious use structure on the Church’s property,” Fonville said.
It’s not clear how much Fonville’s letter moved the needle, however a Sept. 29 sermon by Schott accusing the city of discrimination resulted in an Oct. 4 meeting with Mayor Mattie Parker.
That meeting broke the administrative deadlock and got the project on the zoning commission’s Nov. 13 docket. It also ended the city’s insistence that Mercy Culture needed a zoning change.
The city changes its tune
Shortly after the meeting between the mayor and Mercy Culture’s leadership, Buck from the Riverside Alliance reached out to set up a similar meeting between the city and residents in Oakhurst.
“Our members would appreciate the opportunity to get a better understanding of what is going on from the city’s perspective. We do not get straight answers from MC (Mercy Culture),” Buck wrote in an Oct. 8 email to assistant city manager Dana Burghdoff.
Burghdoff accepted the invitation to meet with the neighborhood while also explaining the thinking behind the decision not to require a zoning change.
The Justice Residences’ use for religious worship is consistent with the zoning rules allowing for church-related activity on Mercy Culture’s property, Burghdoff explained.
She elaborated during an Oct. 17 meeting with Oakhurst residents that court cases based on a 1999 federal law meant to protect religious institutions from discrimination convinced the city to recommend approving the Justice Residences.
Oakhurst residents later voted unanimously to hire their own legal representation to fight the center.
The final showdown
About a week before the case went to the City Council, Mercy Culture sent a letter to Parker and members of the city council threatening legal action if the case didn’t go their way.
The letter suggested individual council members and city staffers could be held liable for violating Mercy Culture’s First Amendment rights.
At the meeting on Dec. 10, the council heard more than two hours of testimony both for and against the project.
In the end, the council voted 6-4 to approve the project with Parker citing religious freedom and the likelihood that the city would lose a lawsuit if Mercy Culture took legal action.
“Government at any level has no place telling any religious institution how they are permitted to live out their beliefs,” she said at the Dec. 10 meeting.
Council member Martinez voted to oppose the project, arguing political pressure had influenced the city’s decision making.
“I am disappointed in the new precedent that was set last night, one that gives way to bullying, fear and threats of legal retribution,” Martinez said in a Dec. 11 text message to the Star-Telegram.
She pledged to keep following the development and urged Mercy Culture to keep its commitments to engage with its neighbors in Oakhurst.
Supporters of the Justice Residences celebrated the move by asking followers to reach out and thank the council members who voted to support the project.
The group is also recruiting survivor advocates who will work one-on-one with victims who come into the shelter, according to the Justice Reform’s website.
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