Opinion ID: 580819
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: The Athens Ordinance is a Maximum Occupancy Limitation

Text: 25 Appellants argue that the district court erred in holding that the ordinance falls within the exemption contained in 42 U.S.C. § 3607(b)(1). Appellants argue that the ordinance at issue cannot be characterized as a maximum occupancy limitation within the meaning of § 3607. Appellants urge that § 3607(b)(1) pertains only to restrictions setting a maximum number of occupants and that the ordinance in this case does not set an absolute maximum because there is no limit placed on the number of family members who may reside together; here the limitation is only on unrelated persons. Appellants suggest that the only maximum occupancy limitation that Congress contemplated was a limitation on the number of persons per square foot of dwelling space. Such a limitation would apply to all persons living together, whether related or not. In support of their argument, appellants cite the following passage of the House Report, stating that the maximum occupancy limitation exemption is: 26 not intended to limit the applicability of any reasonable local, State, or Federal restrictions on the maximum number of occupants permitted to occupy a dwelling unit. A number of jurisdictions limit the number of occupants per unit based on a minimum number of square feet in the unit or the sleeping areas of the unit. Reasonable limitations by governments would be allowed to continue, as long as they were applied to all occupants, and did not operate to discriminate on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, national origin, handicap or familial status. 27 House Report at 31; 1988 U.S.C.C.A.N. at 2192 (1988) (emphasis added). 28 In addressing appellants' argument that the ordinance restricts only unrelated occupants, cases that examine discrimination, under a constitutional analysis rather than under the FHA, are helpful. In Moore v. City of East Cleveland, Ohio, 431 U.S. 494, 97 S.Ct. 1932, 52 L.Ed.2d 531 (1977), the Supreme Court held that an ordinance that limited occupancy to members of a single family, but that defined family so narrowly that a grandmother was not permitted to live with her grandson, violated the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment. In reaching its decision, the Court emphasized its reasons for protecting family living situations: 29 Our decisions establish that the Constitution protects the sanctity of the family precisely because the institution of the family is deeply rooted in this Nation's history and tradition. It is through the family that we inculcate and pass down many of our most cherished values, moral and cultural. 30 431 U.S. at 503-04, 97 S.Ct. at 1938 (footnotes omitted). 31 Moore distinguished Village of Belle Terre v. Boraas, 416 U.S. 1, 94 S.Ct. 1536, 39 L.Ed.2d 797 (1974), because the zoning ordinance there affected only unrelated individuals, and did not limit the number of family members permitted to live together. In Belle Terre, the Supreme Court rejected a constitutional challenge to a zoning ordinance which limited single family dwellings to a maximum of two unrelated persons or to any number of persons related by blood, adoption or marriage. Six students at a nearby college sought to live in a house together and were denied permission. The Supreme Court held that the zoning ordinance was rationally related to legitimate interests relating to density, traffic, and quiet, open spaces for families. 32 Reading Belle Terre and Moore together, it is apparent that Supreme Court precedent sanctions zoning limitations based upon the number of unrelated persons living together as a means of furthering the state's legitimate interest in controlling density, notwithstanding the absence of a similar limitation on related persons. In light of this legal reality, and in light of the prevalence of zoning regulations which limit unrelated persons without a simultaneous limitation upon related persons, see Moore, 431 U.S. at 513-21, 97 S.Ct. at 1942-47 (Stevens, J., concurring), 6 we decline to accept appellants' construction of congressional intent. We do not believe that Congress intended that the maximum occupancy limitation exemption would apply only to a limitation on the maximum number of persons per square foot of dwelling space. A careful reading of the legislative history demonstrates that Congress was merely giving examples of the type of restrictions on occupancy that would be reasonable. See House Report at 31; 1988 U.S.C.C.A.N. at 2192 (A number of jurisdictions limit the number of occupants per unit based on a minimum number of square feet in the unit or the sleeping areas of the unit.) (emphasis added). The list of reasonable restrictions listed in the House Report is not meant to be exhaustive. 33 In the instant case, the City of Athens was attempting to prevent overcrowding in the area surrounding the university without restricting family members unnecessarily. At trial, the City presented evidence that limiting unrelated individuals was the most workable solution in order to maintain the residential character of the neighborhood. The City felt that a restriction based on square footage, applicable to both related and unrelated persons, would not be feasible because too low a number would cause a family to move if a child were born while too high a number would defeat the ability of the City to protect single-family neighborhoods. 34 Our reasoning finds support in Doe v. City of Butler, Pa., 892 F.2d 315, 321 (3d Cir.1989). There, the Third Circuit concluded that a zoning regulation was rationally related to legitimate state interests in controlling density, notwithstanding the fact that the regulation limited to six the number of unrelated persons who could occupy a single dwelling unit while imposing no limitation upon the number of related persons. The court rejected the argument that the zoning restriction was not related to density control because there were no limits placed on the occupancy of related persons. Applying reasoning similar to our own, the Third Circuit stated: If the absence of an occupancy limitation on the members of a family who can live together is boot-strapped into the argument that therefore there can be no occupancy limitation for unrelated persons living together, there could never be such an occupancy limitation and Belle Terre would be meaningless. 892 F.2d at 321. In other words, Moore and Belle Terre, read together, indicate that a feasible method of controlling density is to place occupancy limitations on unrelated persons but not on related persons. 35 Having concluded that the Athens zoning restriction is a maximum occupancy limitation, we turn to appellant's argument that the Athens ordinance is unreasonable.