ALLENTOWN, Pa.—A suburban Allentown woman has lost another round in her battle to keep a chemical-free shelter known as "the bubble" in her yard.

Elizabeth Feudale-Bowes says the galvanized steel and porcelain metal shed where she sleeps is a sanctuary from an outside world that makes her violently ill. The 52-year-old says she's been diagnosed with environmental illness.

But the South Whitehall Township zoning board on Monday denied her request to allow the bubble as a structure similar to a greenhouse or shed.

Feudale-Bowes and her husband plan to appeal the ruling. Their attorney says he might take the case to federal court.

South Whitehall has already won a judgment in Lehigh County Court ordering the couple to take down the bubble, which they installed without permission. That ruling is on appeal.