Opinion ID: 580819
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Reasonableness of the Athens Ordinance

Text: 36 The § 3607(b)(1) exemption applies only to reasonable restrictions regarding the maximum number of occupants permitted to occupy a dwelling. Appellants argue that the Athens, Georgia, ordinance is unreasonable because it has a disparate impact on handicapped individuals. In determining the reasonableness of the ordinance, this court must strike a balance between a municipality's interest in maintaining the residential character of a particular area and the interests of the handicapped in remaining free from a zoning restriction having some disparate impact. 7 Courts have long recognized that local governments have broad power in zoning. See Village of Euclid, Ohio v. Ambler Realty Co., 272 U.S. 365, 395, 47 S.Ct. 114, 121, 71 L.Ed. 303 (1926) ([B]efore [a zoning] ordinance can be declared unconstitutional, [it must be shown to be] clearly arbitrary and unreasonable, having no substantial relation to the public health, safety, morals, or general welfare.). 37 We turn then to the evidence of discrimination adduced by appellants at trial. The only evidence of disparate impact 8 upon handicapped persons adduced by appellants was the fact that appellants' proposed use for handicapped persons was rejected and the testimony of Reverend Lindsay that a group home for recovering alcoholics in Athens, Georgia, could not be economically feasible with fewer than 12 residents. There was no attempt to establish that the ordinance had a harsher effect on handicapped persons wanting to live in group homes than on college students or other non-handicapped persons desiring to live in group homes. While we assume arguendo that the ordinance had some disparate impact upon handicapped persons, 9 we conclude that the evidence of disparate impact upon handicapped persons is extremely weak. 38 Weighed against the foregoing rather slim evidence of disparate impact upon handicapped persons are the City's very substantial interests in controlling density, traffic, and noise in its single family residential districts, and in preserving the residential character of such districts. The City's purpose in adopting the zoning restriction at issue was to control the large University of Georgia student population. The City adopted its definition of family in the ordinance in order to protect the character of single-family neighborhoods and regulate the negative effects emanating from the student population such as overcrowding, traffic, and noise. 39 At trial, the City presented the testimony of Mr. Leon Eplan, a land use planner and currently the Commissioner of Planning and Development for the City of Atlanta, Georgia. Eplan testified about the effects that a large student population can have on the surrounding residential neighborhood absent measures aimed at restricting occupancy. Eplan cited the Home Park area surrounding Georgia Tech University in Atlanta, Georgia, as an example of an area that has gone from being primarily residential to an area that has increased in density, is primarily rental property, and is no longer suitable for single-family dwellings because of the increased noise and traffic. As the student population grew, the residents found it profitable to rent to students. At the time that this demand for off-campus housing grew, there was no city ordinance in place that would limit the density in the area. Thus, the neighborhood has changed its character dramatically over the years. 40 As noted above, and as the district court found, see District Court Opinion at 7, the most practical means of accomplishing the City's legitimate interests was a limitation on the number of unrelated persons permitted to occupy a single dwelling. The Athens restriction has the following primary effects in the affected single family residential districts: (1) to control the number of college students who may rent a single dwelling; (2) to exclude boarding houses; and (3) to exclude fraternity and sorority houses. All are clearly legitimate and serve important interests of the City. In addition, of course, the restriction had the incidental effect of excluding group homes such as the one proposed by appellants, at least those which cannot be economically operated with the permitted number of residents. 41 In considering whether the City's legitimate interests outweigh the disparate impact upon handicapped persons, it is also relevant that there are other areas in the City that would be available for group homes. The City presented evidence at trial that such a group home would be permitted to operate in the following zones: R.M. 1 and R.M. 2 (both multi-family residential zones); O.I. (office institutional); O.I.B. (office institutional and limited commercial), L.B. (local business); G.B. (general business), C.B.D. (central business district), and H.B. (highway business). R2-168-174. Thus, it appears that group homes of the kind appellants propose would be permitted in other residential areas of the city, as well as non-residential areas. 42 The Athens ordinance on its face does not draw a line between handicapped individuals and non-handicapped individuals. Rather, the legislative line was drawn between related and unrelated individuals, a distinction which Supreme Court precedent clearly permits. See Moore and Belle Terre, supra. While a local government cannot exclude handicapped individuals on the premise that they can go elsewhere, 10 the Fair Housing Act amendments do not require a local government to permit handicapped individuals to live wherever they desire. The Act provides only that handicapped individuals be given meaningful access to housing in a nondiscriminatory fashion. While it may be true that handicapped individuals have a greater need to reside in group settings, the City of Athens has other zones that permit such access for handicapped and other individuals. 43 We conclude that the zoning restriction as applied in this case is reasonable, and thus the exemption is applicable. Appellants have adduced only weak evidence of disparate impact upon handicapped persons. On the other hand, the City has adduced evidence of strong and legitimate interests in controlling density, traffic, and noise in its single-family residential districts, and in preserving the residential character thereof. The City not only demonstrated that its restriction upon the number of unrelated persons who may occupy a dwelling is the only practical method of serving its legitimate interests but also adduced evidence that comparable restrictions are commonplace in the zoning regulations of counties and municipalities. The exemption contained in § 3607(b)(1) relating to maximum occupancy limitations is an attempt on the part of Congress to advance the interests of the handicapped without interfering seriously with reasonable local zoning. In this case, the City has preserved meaningful access for group homes for handicapped persons in its residential areas. We conclude that the zoning restriction, as applied under the circumstances of this case, is reasonable, and thus that the § 3607(b)(1) exemption is applicable. 44 Finally, appellants argue that the fact that the ordinance has some disparate impact upon handicapped persons means, ipso facto, that the ordinance is unreasonable. Our research has uncovered no support in the case law for that proposition. To the contrary, the relevant case law suggests otherwise. In Alexander v. Choate, 469 U.S. 287, 105 S.Ct. 712, 83 L.Ed.2d 661 (1985), the Supreme Court held that a Medicaid regulation, which had a disparate impact upon handicapped persons, nevertheless did not violate § 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973. 11 The Supreme Court expressly rejected the argument that every disparate impact discrimination would violate the Act: 45 At the same time, the position urged by respondents--that we interpret § 504 to reach all action disparately affecting the handicapped--is also troubling. Because the handicapped typically are not similarly situated to the non-handicapped, respondents' position would in essence require each recipient of federal funds first to evaluate the effect on the handicapped of every proposed action that might touch the interests of the handicapped, and then to consider alternatives for achieving the same objectives with less severe disadvantage to the handicapped. The formalization and policing of this process could lead to a wholly unwieldy administrative and adjudicative burden.... Had Congress intended § 504 to be a National Environmental Policy Act for the handicapped, requiring preparation of Handicapped Impact Statements before any action was taken by a grantee that affected the handicapped, we would expect some indication of that purpose in the statute or its legislative history. Yet there is nothing to suggest that such was Congress' purpose. Thus, just as there is reason to question whether Congress intended § 504 to reach only intentional discrimination, there is similarly reason to question whether Congress intended § 504 to embrace all claims of disparate-impact discrimination. 46 Id. at 298-99, 105 S.Ct. at 718-19 (footnote omitted). 47 In Metropolitan Housing Development Corp. v. Village of Arlington Heights, 558 F.2d 1283 (7th Cir.1977), cert. denied, 434 U.S. 1025, 98 S.Ct. 752, 54 L.Ed.2d 772 (1978), the Seventh Circuit expressly rejected the argument that once a racially discriminatory effect is shown, a violation of § 3604(a) of the Fair Housing Act is necessarily established. The Seventh Circuit held: 48 We decline to extend the reach of the Fair Housing Act this far. Although we agree that a showing of discriminatory intent is not required under § 3604(a), we refuse to conclude that every action which produces discriminatory effects is illegal. Such a per se rule would go beyond the intent of Congress and would lead courts into untenable results in specific cases. 49 Id. at 1290. To the same effect, see United States v. City of Blackjack, Missouri, 508 F.2d 1179, 1186 (8th Cir.1974), cert. denied, 422 U.S. 1042, 95 S.Ct. 2656, 45 L.Ed.2d 694 (1975). 50 It is true that the context of the foregoing cases is not precisely the same as this case. The above cases were addressing the issue of whether there was a violation of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 and the Fair Housing Act, respectively. In the instant case, the issue is the application of an exemption from the coverage of the Fair Housing Act. More precisely, the issue now under discussion is whether an otherwise reasonable zoning restriction is unreasonable, thus nullifying the exemption, solely because it has some disparate impact on handicapped persons. We conclude, however, that the rationale of the foregoing cases is relevant and persuasive. The fact that Congress did not intend that every disparate impact discrimination would violate the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 or the Fair Housing Act provides strong evidence that Congress also did not intend that every zoning restriction based on maximum occupancy would necessarily be unreasonable, and therefore nonexempt under the Act, merely because the restriction had some disparate impact upon handicapped persons. Thus, we reject appellants' final argument. 12 51 For the foregoing reasons, the Athens, Georgia, zoning ordinance was reasonable as applied in this case. We conclude that § 3607(b)(1) exempts the City's action from the coverage of the Act. 13 Accordingly, the judgment of the district court is 52 AFFIRMED.