United States v. City of Black Jack, Missouri
| Decision Date | 20 March 1974 |
| Docket Number | No. 71 C 372 (1).,71 C 372 (1). |
| Citation | 372 F. Supp. 319 |
| Parties | UNITED STATES of America, Plaintiff, v. CITY OF BLACK JACK, MISSOURI, a municipal corporation, Defendant. |
| Court | U.S. District Court — Eastern District of Missouri |
Donald J. Stohr, U. S. Atty., Terry I. Adelman, Asst. U. S. Atty., St. Louis, Mo., J. Stanley Pottinger, Asst. Atty. Gen., Civil Rights Div., Norman P. Goldberg and Carolyn A. Reed, Attys., Housing Section, Civil Rights Div., Dept. of Justice, Washington, D. C., for plaintiff.
Bruce S. Feldacker, St. Louis, Mo., Jewish Community Relations Council, amicus curiae for plaintiff.
Roy W. Bergmann, Sheldon K. Stock, Clayton, Mo., for defendant.
FINDINGS OF FACT AND CONCLUSIONS OF LAW
In this action the United States has alleged that the City of Black Jack, Missouri, has engaged in racially discriminatory housing practices in violation of the Fair Housing Act of 1968, 42 U.S.C. § 3601 et seq., by exercising its zoning powers to exclude Park View Heights, a federally-subsidized housing development for low to moderate income persons. The United States claims that racial discrimination was a significant element in the defendant's purpose. The Court makes the following findings of fact and conclusions of law.
1. In 1970 the Black Jack area was unincorporated, and all municipal type of authority was exercised by St. Louis County through its Planning Commission and other departments and the St. Louis County Council.
2. Of the 1,700 acres which were later to become the City, 498.3 acres were built upon and in use, and 1,218 acres were vacant. The vacant acres included undeveloped platted tracts in existing subdivisions, flood plain, and unsubdivided land. Of the land on which buildings were in existence, 15.2 acres were built up with 321 apartments, and 855 single-family dwelling units were on the balance of the developed acreage. The 15.2 acres of apartments were included in a total of 67 acres which had been zoned multiple by the County's 1965 Master Plan. The number of apartments built on the 15.2 acres comprised 27% of all the dwelling units, and 40% of the dwelling units built in the previous fifteen years, in what was later to be the city. If the entire 67 acres, which the County had zoned for multiple dwelling purposes, had been developed for apartments, with the same density per acre as on the 15.2 acres already built up, it would have resulted in 1,412 apartment units. Added to the 3,723 single-family residences that could be built on the remaining city acreage, an estimated density of population per acre of 9.45 would result. The County average per (built up) acre was 7.2. The estimated number of occupants of apartments was taken to be 2.5, while the number of occupants of single-family residences was from 3.5 to 3.75. The "Flood Plain" zone, adjacent to Cold Water Creek, is required by the periodic backing up of the Missouri River, making some of the land useless, except for parks and like uses.
3. The average cost of homes in what was to be the City of Black Jack was approximately $30,000.
4. The average income of Black Jack families is approximately $15,000 annually.
5. In 1967, the Inter Religious Center for Urban Affairs (ICUA) was organized by a group of religious institutions to seek constructive solutions to social and urban problems in the St. Louis area. In the fall of 1969, after several ventures in which ICUA had assisted groups seeking to improve housing in all-black areas, Jack Quigley and Paul Mittelstadt, who organized ICUA's housing program, determined that there was a need to create for persons of low and moderate income living in the ghetto areas of St. Louis City alternative housing opportunities in the predominantly white suburbs of St. Louis County. The proposed Park View Heights (PVH) development, which is the subject of this litigation, was designed for this purpose.
6. In late 1969, ICUA began an analysis of available land in order to select the most appropriate site for the proposed development. Mr. Mittelstadt viewed and considered a number of parcels of land in North County, including one immediately adjacent to St. Mark's Methodist Church (St. Mark's), one of the co-sponsors of the project with the United Metro Ministry, and favored by board members of that church, but which turned out to have an inappropriate zoning classification. Eventually, the ICUA representatives selected an 11.9 acre site at the intersection of Old Jamestown and Parker Roads, in a part of St. Louis County which was then unincorporated, but which is now within limits of the City of Black Jack.
7. On December 23, 1969, the ICUA paid $5,000 in earnest money for an option to the property at a price of $240,000 or $20,000 per acre.
8. Title to the land was to vest in the Park View Heights Corporation, a not-for-profit corporation which was created by the sponsors to become the developer-mortgagor of the Park View Heights development. A Board of Directors, which included six black members and six white members, was elected by the Boards of Directors of St. Mark's and Metro Ministry. Subsequently, Methodist Bishop Eugene Frank also became a sponsor and selected three additional members to the Board.
9. On March 6, 1970, the Park View Heights sponsors filed a preliminary application with FHA for initial approval of a proposed § 236 development at the corner of Parker Road and Old Jamestown Road. According to the Form 2013 submitted by the sponsors, the initial development was to include 108 two-story townhouse units with a wood frame and brick construction. The breakdown of the units by size and rent (including utilities) was as follows:
No. of Units Basic Rent
------------ ----------
1-bedroom 8 $ 118
2-bedroom 54 135
3-bedroom 42 146
4-bedroom 4 157
10. The architectural firm of Anselevicius and Rupe and the construction firm of Monsey-Feagher Engineers and Constructors, Ltd., were selected to design and build the development.
11. While these developments were occurring, a controversial housing development (Summerhill) was creating lively discussion in the Black Jack area. Summerhill was a request to St. Louis County by the Alfred H. Mayer Company on February 10, 1970, for a Planned Environmental Unit Special Procedure Permit for 600 homes (to be expanded to 1,000) to be built on 161.8 acres fronting on Old Jamestown Road, involving rezoning downward of the acreage from 15,000 to approximately 5,000 square feet per lot. It was vigorously, but unsuccessfully, opposed by Black Jack people; however, the project was never built. Summerhill was planned as single-family residential, but in the lower income spectrum, involving 600 to 1,000 dwelling units. In the price range as advertised ($16,000), the people of the area felt it would have devalued present property values and increased population density disproportionately to the rest of the community.
12. About 4,500 "handouts" entitled "Are you Aware?" were mailed to the citizens of the area in opposition to Summerhill.
13. Meetings of the Black Jack Improvement Association (BJIA) were stimulated by the pendency in the St. Louis County Planning Commission and the St. Louis County Council of the petition for "Summerhill". At a meeting of the BJIA on March 10, 1970, three things were considered: (1) opposition to Summerhill; (2) incorporation as a City of Black Jack to "give a handle on local government"; and (3) investigation of a rumored, unnamed federally-subsidized apartment complex (Park View Heights).
14. In late March or early April 1970, the proposal to build an FHA-236 development in Black Jack became a matter of public knowledge. Opposition to the development, organized and led by the BJIA, Spanish Lake Improvement Association (SLIA), and County Councilman Milton Bischof, developed almost immediately. A pamphlet was sent to area residents by the BJIA that was based on partially incorrect information and announced an April 8th meeting, which was held at a school in neighboring Spanish Lake. Residents seeking to learn more about Park View Heights received some inconsistent reports in the spring of 1970 from the sponsors, from public officials, and from adversaries of the development about the nature of the development and the income level of the group to be served. Some of these inconsistencies were cleared away before the zoning ordinance was passed. In recognition of the misapprehensions and opposition on the part of some area residents, representatives of the sponsors accepted invitations to speak at a number of community meetings about the proposed housing development. Representatives of the architectural firm attended some of the meetings and showed slides depicting what the project would look like. A detailed letter explaining PVH was also prepared by the sponsors and mailed to thousands of area residents in an effort to correct any misinformation about the development. Nevertheless, between misinformation and not knowing who to believe, confusion, distortions, and distrust of the nature of Park View Heights continued. Incorporation had come up often before in Black Jack when annexation was threatened or when other nearby areas incorporated. There was also a dissatisfaction in the area with St. Louis County government, and a history of opposition to apartments, and these feelings were heightened by proposals such as Summerhill and Park View Heights.
15. The sponsors filed their application for a feasibility letter which was issued on June 5, 1970. As stated in Park View Heights Corp. v. City of Black Jack, 467 F.2d 1208, at 1211 (8th Cir. 1972):
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