COM 0067.031 2006-2008 - Laserfiche WebLink

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be appropriate to require fire safety measures beyond those normally imposoed on the size and type of residential building involved. Q. Can a local government consider the feelings of neighbors in making a decision about granting a permir to a group home to locate fn a residential neighborhood? in the same way a local government would break the law if it rejected low-income housing in a community because of neighbors' fears that such housing would be occupiod by racial minorities, a local government can violate the Fair Housing Act if it blocks a group home or denies a iequeste reasons a accommo tton m response w neighbors' stereotypica cnr3 or prejudices 3 Out perSOnS lya t tees. S is su even i e vi govarrtmgnt ecision-m us are nut t temse vcs persona y prejudiced against persons with disabilities. If tF.e evidence shows that the decision-makers were responding to the wishes of their constituents, and that the constituents were motivated in substantial part by discriminatory concerns, that could be enough to prove a violation. Of eoWSe, s city council of zoning board is not bound by everything that is said by every Person who speaks out at a public hearing. It is the record as a whole that will be detcrrninative. Tf the record shows that there were valid reasons for denying an application that were no! related to the disability of the prospective residents, the courts will give little weight to isolated discriminatory statements. Tf, however, the purportedly leititimate reasons advanced to support the action are not o c objectively valid, the courts are likely to treat them as pretcxtual, and to find that there has been r ~ discrimination. z v or example, neighbors and local overrunent officials ma be le 'timately concerned that a group home or ado is m certain circumstanres ma create more demand far on-sheet parkin ` woo atypic amt y. Tt is not a violation of the air Housing Act fcr neighbors or officials to raise this concern and to ask the provider to respond. A valid a^taddressed concern about inadequate parking facilities could justify denying the application, if another type of facility would ordinarily be denied a permit for such parking problems. However, if a group of individuals with disabilities or a group home operator shows 6y credible a-td unrcbutted evidence that the home will not create a need for more parking spaces, or submits a plan to provide whatever o1T street pazking mny be needed, then parkins concerns waild not support a decision to deny the home a permit. Q. Whet is the status of group living arrangements for children under [hu Fair Hous[ag Act? In the cotuse of lirigation addressing group homes for persons with disabil ifies, the issue has arisen whether the Fair Housing' Act also provides protections for grnup living arrangements for children. Such living axrangemcnrs are covered by the Fair Housing Act's provisions prohibiting discriminatioa against families with children. For example, a local government may not enforce a zoning ordinance which treats group living arrangements for cltildren less favorably than it treats a similar group living arrangement for unrelated adults. Thus, an ordinance that defined a group of up to six utuclated -adult persons as a family, but specifically disallowed a group living arrangement for six or fewer children, would, on its face, discriminate on the basis of familial status. Likewise, a local government might violate the AM if it denied a permit to such a home because neighbors did not want to have a group facility for children next to them. 6 L0 39tid 0011 L69E9ZE OL:LT L00L/ST/T0