The D.C. General Hospital building, which is now used as a homeless shelter. Photo via Google Street View.

A group of residents is unhappy with the site choice for a 50-bed homeless shelter in Ward 3, and they are suing to stop it from moving forward.

Twenty one people and a non-profit group called Neighbors For Responsive Government argue that they haven’t been adequately consulted on the new choice of shelter location—part of the land where the Second District Police Department sits. “The Council failed to obtain relevant input with respect to the proposed change in the use of the site as required by law,” reads the suit, which was first reported on by The Northwest Current.

After much wrangling, the D.C. Council passed a plan in May to close the notoriously dilapidated family shelter at D.C. General along with another temporary shelter and replace them with seven smaller facilities spread throughout the city. The final plan differed from Mayor Muriel Bowser’s original proposal in several ways, including changing the sites in Wards 3, 5, and 6 from private to city-owned land, and seemed to solve a number of the issues raised in contentious neighborhood meetings.

Over in Ward 3, the original site drew condemnation both for its cost and size (the original plot is currently only zoned for three houses). After the outcry and prompting from Councilmember Mary Cheh, it was moved to a parking lot next the police station in McLean Gardens.

In a lengthy letter explaining the situation and the new site, Cheh wrote “It is not a perfect site because there are no perfect sites. But it is a very good site.” She went on to address specific concerns but noted that “the fact that a site has been identified is just the beginning of the process.”

In the lawsuit filed Tuesday, though, residents argued that the beginning of the process should have involved the local Advisory Neighborhood Commission. ANCs’ input is given significant consideration, but they have no final say over the plan.

“The disruptive effect of the Act’s determination to place a homeless shelter on the site, and its impact on the safety and security of the neighborhood and the District, is just one of the many issues that ANC3C would have commented on had it been given the opportunity required by law,” the suit reads.

The plaintiff’s attorney, David Brown, told NBC4 that they aren’t asking the court to weigh in on the choice of site itself, but “to go back to the drawing board and give the ANC an opportunity to presents its issues and concerns.”

In a statement to the Washington City Paper, Cheh said the lawsuit stems from a misunderstanding of the process, and the local ANC will be given a chance to weigh in during the zoning process. Her office directed further inquiries to the General Counsel, which declined to comment on pending litigation.

While one neighbor wrote in an email to neighbors that the suit is largely about the process by which the site was chosen, according to WAMU, others have spoken out about property values and even the worth of a shelter at all.

Such opposition could further push back the timeline for closing D.C. General. The Department of General Services puts the estimate at well into 2019 at the earliest, and delays in some projects could mean it will be shut down in stages.