The city of Brookings’ council voted last week to pay a total of $418,000 for St. Timothy Episcopal Church’s legal fees after the church successfully challenged the city’s zoning restrictions that limited the number of days it could operate its soup kitchen.

Under the negotiated settlement approved by the mayor and council Sept. 9, the city will pay $375,000 to Stoel Rives and $43,000 to the Oregon Justice Resource Center. As part of the settlement, the city agreed to repeal its ordinance restricting meals in the residential neighborhood and any remaining abatement issues for the church, and the church will withdraw an appeal to the Land Use Board of Appeals.

In March, a federal judge sided with the church, finding that the city’s land use ordinance “substantially” burdened St. Timothy’s practice of feeding the hungry, a “religious exercise” among the “core beliefs that guide the Episcopal church.” The judge called the city’s ordinance “ill-conceived.”

The city also failed to provide any “compelling” interest for restricting the hours and days the church offered free meals, the judge ruled in a 22-page opinion.

The church filed a motion in May for attorney fees. Since then, the parties to the case have been in negotiations that led to this week’s settlement. The church and its lawyers had sought a higher figure of $507,795 for about 1,272 hours spent litigating the case, according to the church’s initial motion.

City attorney Lori Cooper recommended the settlement be approved. The mayor and four council members voted to support the settlement, yet some of them expressed dismay.

“I think the winners in this lawsuit, obviously, [is] this law firm that’s going to collect these attorney fees,” said Andy Martin, a council member. “The losers are the people in this neighborhood that have had to deal with this.”

Council member Clayton Malmberg said “how unfortunate that things have gone this far.”

“It all kind of stems from not being a good neighbor, in my opinion, and not working with your community to find a path forward and address the needs while minimizing the impacts,” Malmberg said. “… My hope is that, moving forward, there’s more effort to work with the community. Recognize that what we do has an impact on those around us, and strive to be a good neighbor.”

The Rev. Bernie Lindley said the city has spent more on the case, including about $225,000 for its own legal fees.

“So the city has ended up paying $625,000 all told,” he said. “It could have been avoided if someone from the city would have sat down with us” and not pursued the restrictive ordinance.

Referring to the two council members’ comments in approving the settlement, Lindley said, “It cut me pretty deep to have those guys say that.”

“It is extremely important to us that we’re good neighbors to the people who live close to the church and to all people, housed and unhoused,” he said. “We’ll be working with the city going forward to make our community a better place.”