Dews v. Town of Sunnyvale, Tex.

• Decision Date: 01 August 2000
• Docket Number: No. CA 3:88-CV-1604-R.,CA 3:88-CV-1604-R.
• Citation: 109 F.Supp.2d 526
• Parties: Mary DEWS, Plaintiff, Hammer-Smith Construction Co., Inc., Plaintiff-Intervenor, The Walker Project, Inc., Plaintiff-Intervenor, v. The TOWN OF SUNNYVALE, TEXAS, Defendant.
• Court: U.S. District Court — Northern District of Texas

109 F.Supp.2d 526

Mary DEWS, Plaintiff, Hammer-Smith Construction Co., Inc., Plaintiff-Intervenor, The Walker Project, Inc., Plaintiff-Intervenor, v. The TOWN OF SUNNYVALE, TEXAS, Defendant.

No. CA 3:88-CV-1604-R.

United States District Court, N.D. Texas, Dallas Division.

August 1, 2000.

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Michael Daury Daniel, Law Office of Michael M. Daniel, Dallas, TX, for Mary Dews.

N Alexander Bickley, Bickley & Associates, Dallas, TX, Kent S. Hofmeister, Bickerstaff Health Smiley Pollan Kever & McDaniel, Dallas, TX, for Town of Sunnyvale, TX.

Roger Earl Albright, Law Office of Roger Albright, Dallas, TX, for Hammer-Smith Const. Co., Inc.

Michael Maury Daniel, Laura Beth Beshara, Law Office of Michael M. Daniel, Dallas, TX, for Walker Project Inc.

MEMORANDUM OPINION

BUCHMEYER, Chief Judge.

Approximately twelve miles east of the central business district of Dallas lies the aptly-named town of Sunnyvale. Nestled in the midst of towns defined by the shopping malls and dense apartment development for which the Dallas Metropolitan Area has become famous, Sunnyvale presents a stark contrast. It is a beautiful, rural, Texas town with almost 11,000 acres of rolling hills and green grassland and only 2,000 residents. Sunnyvale has no shopping malls and no apartment developments. The secret to Sunnyvale's success is its unusual zoning laws, including an outright ban on apartments and a one-acre zoning requirement for residential development. It is these zoning laws, allegedly enacted by the residents of Sunnyvale to preserve their rural lifestyle, which are being challenged by Plaintiffs on the grounds that they were enacted with the intent of excluding minority families from living in Sunnyvale and with the effect of prohibiting the development of multi-family housing within Sunnyvale's town limits, an effect which falls disproportionately on African-Americans looking for housing in the Dallas Metropolitan Area. Plaintiffs also challenge the Town's refusal to approve the planned development application submitted by Plaintiff Hammersmith Construction Co., Inc.

Plaintiff-Intervenors Walker Project, Inc. and Hammer-Smith Construction Co., Inc. ("Plaintiffs") allege that Defendant Town of Sunnyvale ("Sunnyvale") has engaged in racially discriminatory zoning and planning practices in violation of the Fair Housing Act of 1968, as amended, 42 U.S.C. § 3601 et seq.; the Civil Rights Act of 1866, as amended, 42 U.S.C. §§ 1981, 1982; the Civil Rights Act of 1871, as amended, 42 U.S.C. § 1983, and the Civil Rights Act of 1964, as amended, 42 U.S.C. § 2000d.¹ Plaintiffs also allege that Sunnyvale's ongoing zoning and planning practices inhibit and obstruct the desegregation of Dallas's low-income housing programs, as ordered by this Court in the consent decree² approved on January 20, 1987 in Walker v. HUD, CA 3-85-1210-R (N.D.Tex., J. Buchmeyer). Plaintiffs seek injunctive and declaratory relief, costs, and attorneys' fees.

The Court has jurisdiction over this case pursuant to 28 U.S.C. §§ 1331, 1343, and 42 U.S.C. § 3613. This case came before the Court for a four-day bench trial beginning on October 20, 1997. Having considered the evidence and argument submitted at trial and the written submissions of the parties, the Court concludes that Sunnyvale's actions in maintaining a one-acre zoning ordinance, in enacting a resolution banning apartments, and in refusing to consider the rezoning application of Hammer-Smith Construction Co., Inc., have a discriminatory effect on African-Americans and are motivated by a discriminatory purpose, all in violation of 42 U.S.C. §§ 1981, 1982, 1983, 2000d, and 3604.

This opinion will first discuss the applicable law governing race discrimination claims based on zoning and planning decisions. Next, it will state this Court's findings regarding the credibility of the witnesses who testified at the four-day, non-jury trial. Then, it will state this Court's findings of fact, which will essentially be a history of zoning and planning decisions in the Town of Sunnyvale. Finally, the opinion will close with this Court's conclusions of law and choice of remedies.

I. THE LAW APPLICABLE TO HOUSING DISCRIMINATION CLAIMS

Plaintiffs have asserted claims under both the Fair Housing Act of 1968, as amended, 42 U.S.C. § 3601 et seq., and various Civil Rights Acts, as amended, 42 U.S.C. §§ 1981, 1982, 1983, and 2000d. The standards required to prove liability under these statutes differ.

The Fair Housing Act expressly prohibits discrimination in the rental or sale of a dwelling on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, familial status, or national origin. See 42 U.S.C. § 3604(a). The Act has been interpreted to prohibit municipalities from using their zoning powers in a discriminatory manner, that is in a manner which excludes housing for a group of people on the basis of one of the enumerated classifications. See Huntington Branch, NAACP v. Town of Huntington, 844 F.2d 926 (2d Cir.), aff'd 488 U.S. 15, 109 S.Ct. 276, 102 L.Ed.2d 180 (1988); United States v. City of Black Jack, 372 F.Supp. 319, 327 (E.D.Mo.), rev'd on other grounds, 508 F.2d 1179 (8th Cir.1974), cert. denied, 422 U.S. 1042, 95 S.Ct. 2656, 45 L.Ed.2d 694 (1975). The Fifth Circuit has established that plaintiffs suing under the Fair Housing Act may establish liability by showing intentional discrimination or by showing that the defendant's acts have a significant discriminatory effect.³ See Simms v. First Gibraltar Bank, 83 F.3d 1546, 1555 (5th Cir.1996) ("a violation of the FHA may be established not only be proof of discriminatory intent, but also by a showing of significant discriminatory effect"); Hanson v. Veterans Admin., 800 F.2d 1381, 1386 (5th Cir.1986) ("a violation of section 804 of the Fair Housing Act may be established not only by proof of discriminatory intent, but also by a showing of a significant discriminatory effect."); United States v. Mitchell, 580 F.2d 789, 791 (1978) ("[t]he Fair Housing Act prohibits not only direct discrimination but practices with racially discouraging effects").

In contrast, plaintiffs suing under Sections 1981, 1982, 1983 and 2000d are required to prove discriminatory intent. See Coleman v. Houston Indep. Sch. Dist., 113 F.3d 528, 533 (5th Cir.1997) (plaintiff must demonstrate intentional discrimination for racial discrimination claims brought under § 1983 and § 1981); Hanson, 800 F.2d at 1386 (5th Cir.1986) (proof of discriminatory intent required for § 1981 and § 1982 claims); Guardians Ass'n v. Civil Serv. Comm'n of New York City, 463 U.S. 582, 611, 103 S.Ct. 3221, 77 L.Ed.2d 866 (1983) (recovery under § 2000d requires showing of discriminatory intent). Section 1981 prohibits race discrimination in the making and enforcement of contracts. See 42 U.S.C. § 1981. Section 1982 prohibits race discrimination in the inheritance, purchase, sale, holding and conveyance of real and personal property. See 42 U.S.C. § 1982. Section 1983 prohibits state officials from depriving individuals of rights, privileges, or immunities secured by the Constitution and federal law. See 42 U.S.C. § 1983. And Section 2000d prohibits discrimination on the basis of race, color or national origin against beneficiaries of federally funded programs. See 42 U.S.C. § 2000d.

A. Discriminatory Effect

Discriminatory effect may be proven by showing either (1) "adverse impact on a particular minority group" or (2) "harm to the community generally by the perpetuation of segregation." Huntington Branch NAACP v. Town of Huntington, 844 F.2d 926, 937 (2nd Cir.), aff'd, 488 U.S. 15, 109 S.Ct. 276, 102 L.Ed.2d 180 (1988); see also, Summerchase Ltd. Partnership I v. City of Gonzales, 970 F.Supp. 522, 527-28 (M.D.La.1997). The Second Circuit's decision in Huntington is directly on point and has been accepted as the leading opinion on Fair Housing Act challenges to zoning ordinances.⁴ See 1 RODNEY A. SMOLLA. FEDERAL CIVIL RIGHTS ACTS § 3.07[4] (3rd ed. 1997) ("In Huntington Branch, NAACP v. Town of Huntington, the Second Circuit, in an opinion later affirmed per curiam by the Supreme Court, issued the most important zoning practice decision to date under the Fair Housing Act.").

In Huntington, the Town of Huntington had enacted a zoning ordinance which restricted private construction of multi-family housing to a narrow urban renewal area and had also refused a non-profit developer's request to rezone a parcel of land located outside the urban renewal area, on which they wished to develop an integrated, multi-family, subsidized apartment complex. The Town argued that the ordinance was designed to encourage private developers to build in the deteriorated, urban renewal area. Plaintiffs challenged both the zoning ordinance itself and the Town's refusal to rezone the particular parcel of land. See Huntington, 844 F.2d at 938 (2nd Cir.).

The Second Circuit found that the Town's zoning ordinance had both a "segregative effect" and an adverse impact on African Americans. See Huntington at 937-38. In concluding that the zoning ordinance tended to perpetuate segregation, the Court pointed out that "Huntington's zoning ordinance, which restricts private construction of multi-family housing to the largely minority urban renewal area, impedes integration by restricting low-income housing needed by minorities to an area already 52% minority." Id. In its adverse impact analysis, the Court relied on the following figures contained in Huntington's Housing Assistance Plan⁵ for 1982-1985:

7% of all Huntington families needed subsidized housing, while 24% of the black families needed such housing.... Similarly, a disproportionately high percentage (60%) of families holding Section 8 certificates from the Housing Authority to supplement their rents are minorities, and an equally disproportionate percentage (61%) of those on the waiting list for such certificates are minorities.

Huntington at 938; ...