Costley v. Caromin House, Inc.

• Decision Date: 11 December 1981
• Docket Number: 81-403.,No. 81-279,81-279
• Citation: Costley v. Caromin House, Inc., 313 N.W.2d 21 (Minn. 1981)
• Parties: Mitchell H. COSTLEY, et al., Appellants (81-279), v. CAROMIN HOUSE, INC., Respondent, City of Two Harbors, Respondent, and Lori Marie Osbakken, etc., et al., applicants for intervention, Appellants (81-403).
• Court: Minnesota Supreme Court

313 N.W.2d 21 (1981)

Mitchell H. COSTLEY, et al., Appellants (81-279), v. CAROMIN HOUSE, INC., Respondent City of Two Harbors, Respondent, and Lori Marie Osbakken, etc., et al., applicants for intervention, Appellants (81-403).

Nos. 81-279, 81-403.

Supreme Court of Minnesota.

December 11, 1981.

Delaney, Thompson & Solum and John W. Lundquist, Minneapolis, for Costley, et al.

Stephen E. Scott and Eric S. Janus, Developmental Disabilities Advocacy Project, Minneapolis, for Osbakken, etc., et al.

Friedman, Nord & Paulson and Larry M. Nord, Duluth, for Caromin House, Inc.

Donovan, McCarthy, Crassweller, Larson & Magie and Michael W. Haag, Duluth, Kenneth A. Sandvik, City Atty., Two Harbors, for City of Two Harbors.

Warren Spannaus, Atty. Gen., Alan Held and Ellen Dubuque, Sp. Attys. Gen., St. Paul, Stephen Scott and Eric Janus, ARC and North Shore Assoc., Minneapolis, for amicus curiae.

Heard, considered and decided by the court en banc.

SCOTT, Justice.

This is a combined appeal from the denial of a temporary injunction sought by neighbors wishing to prohibit the construction of a home for mentally retarded adults in the City of Two Harbors, Minnesota, and the denial of a timely motion to intervene by four mentally retarded persons by the Lake County District Court. We affirm in part and reverse in part.

Respondent Caromin House, Inc. (Caromin House), a Minnesota corporation entirely owned by Garry and Gertrude Carlson, planned to operate a home for mentally retarded adults in Two Harbors, Minnesota. Land was purchased from the City of Two Harbors (City) for that purpose in December 1979. The Eighth Addition, in which the land is located, is a new subdivision platted in 1977 and 1978. Since the platting, approximately 20 single-family residences have been constructed in the Eighth Addition. Plaintiff Costley moved into the Eighth Addition in 1978. All six plaintiffs reside there. The subdivision is zoned R-2, which permits one- and two-family dwellings. In addition, the City imposed restrictive covenants on the property, limiting usage to one dwelling and one garage.

The group home planned by Caromin House would be the only facility in all of Lake County to provide a home for mentally retarded adults. Six retarded adults and their houseparents would live in the home. From the exterior, the building would be indistinguishable from any other single-family dwelling in the subdivision. The interior would have five bedrooms, three baths, a living room, a dining room, a kitchen, a basement utility-furnace-storage area, and a basement recreation room. All residents would live together as a family, sharing all parts of the house except individual bedrooms. The purpose of the home is to provide a non-institutional living situation for mentally retarded adults. All of the residents, including the houseparents, would share in such family functions as preparing and eating meals, planning outings, and performing household duties, all in compliance with applicable state regulations. 12 MCAR § 2.034 (1978).

Caromin House followed all necessary administrative procedures and obtained all necessary permits for construction of the home, including a Certificate of Need from the Minnesota Department of Health and approval of the location by the Minnesota Department of Public Welfare. In the course of this process, the City expressed to the Residential Licensing Supervisor its concern that the project would be a commercial enterprise or boarding house that would violate the City of Two Harbors Zoning Ordinance. The Minnesota Attorney General, in an informal written opinion, responded that Minn.Stat. §§ 462.357, subd. 7, and 245.812, subd. 3,¹ applied to the project and therefore the proposed group home would not violate the city zoning ordinance. Under these statutes, a state-licensed group home serving six or fewer mentally retarded persons shall be considered a single-family residential use for the purpose of zoning.

The Board of Zoning Appeals issued the necessary zoning permit to Caromin House on October 16, 1980, reversing the denial of the permit by the zoning administrator. While the zoning administrator had felt the project was a commercial venture, the decision of the board was "based to a large degree on the Minnesota statutes" that mandate that such a group home be considered a single-family residential use for the purpose of zoning.

On October 23, 1980, one week after the zoning permit was granted, plaintiffs obtained ex parte a temporary restraining order against construction of the group home while they sought a temporary injunction. Lori Osbakken, et al., four mentally retarded persons, through their guardians filed a timely motion to intervene. All four were potential future residents of the home and now reside there. The Lake County District Court denied both the motions for a temporary injunction and for intervention.

Plaintiffs appeal the denial of a temporary injunction on the grounds that the home is prohibited by the local zoning laws and by the applicable restrictive covenant and that Minn.Stat. §§ 462.357, subd. 7, and 245.812, subd. 3 (1980), characterizing a group home as single-family use, are unconstitutional. Applicants for intervention appeal the denial of their motion for intervention on the ground that the trial court either improperly denied intervention as of right or abused its discretion in refusing to permit intervention. Defendant City of Two Harbors takes no position on the issue of a temporary restraining order. A counter-claim by Caromin House against plaintiffs for damages was not decided below and is not before this court.

The following issues are therefore presented:

(1) Does a group home for six retarded adults and two resident houseparents comply with the Two Harbors Zoning Ordinance as being a single-family dwelling?

(2) Does the group home comply with the applicable restrictive covenant?

(3) Did the trial court err in denying the temporary injunction?

(4) Did the trial court err in denying the motion for intervention?

1. Plaintiffs contend that the group home violates the zoning ordinance because a group of persons unrelated by blood, marriage, or adoption cannot be a family. The home is located in an area zoned R-2, which permits "one and two-family dwelling groups," according to Article 6, Section 2.02. "Dwelling, single-family" is defined in Article 2, Section 1.12, as "a building designed for occupancy by one family."

While plaintiffs argue that the word "family" must be given "its ordinary meaning," we have stated:

The word "family" has many different common meanings and perhaps as many legal definitions as there are fields of law in which it is used. * * * The meaning necessarily depends upon the field of law in which the word is used, the purpose intended to be accomplished by its use, and the facts and circumstances of each case."

LeRoux v. Edmundson, 276 Minn. 120, 123, 148 N.W.2d 812, 814 (1967). Here, the zoning ordinance itself defines family:

Family: One or more persons occupying a premises and living as a single housekeeping unit as distinguished from a group occupying a boarding house, lodging house or hotel as herein defined.

Two Harbors, Minn., Ordinance No. 253, Art. 2, sec. 1.16 (Oct. 15, 1979). The residents of Caromin House will constitute a family, therefore, if they live in a single housekeeping unit.

In order to qualify for state licensure,² the group home must function as a single housekeeping unit. The licensing requirements of the Department of Public Welfare, 12 MCAR § 2.034 (1978), ensure that the mentally retarded residents and houseparents will operate as a family.³ The residents of Caromin House share in planning and preparation of meals, performing housekeeping duties, and planning recreational activities. The houseparents provide supervision, guidance, and emotional support to the residents as would any head of household. Such a family setting differs from a boarding home, a lodging house, or a hotel which, as the zoning ordinance defines, provide limited services of food or lodging only.

Interpreting a similar ordinance in Oliver v. Zoning Commission, 31 Conn.Supp. 197, 326 A.2d 841 (1974), a lower Connecticut court held that a residence for eight or nine mentally retarded adults and two supervisory houseparents constituted a single housekeeping unit and was a permitted single-family use. Courts have determined that almost any living arrangement that makes use of unified housekeeping facilities satisfies such an ordinance. 2 Rathkopf, The Law of Zoning and Planning § 17A.033a (1981).

Even where local zoning ordinances have required persons to be related in order to be a family, courts have held that a group home was a single-family dwelling. See, e. g., Hessling v. City of Broomfield, 193 Colo. 124, 563 P.2d 12 (1977); Berger v. State, 71 N.J. 206, 364 A.2d 993 (1976); City of White Plains v. Ferraioli, 34 N.Y.2d 300, 313 N.E.2d 756, 357 N.Y.S.2d 449 (1974). See also, 2 Anderson, American Law of Zoning § 9.31 (2d ed. 1968 & Supp. 1981); 2 Rathkopf, The Law of Zoning and Planning § 17A.052b (1981); Annot., 71 A.L.R.3d 693 (1976). The word "family" is no longer limited to a traditional concept of marriage and biological ties. As the court in Ferraioli stated in recognizing a group home including ten foster children as a single-family unit, "So long as the group home bears the generic character of a family unit as a relatively permanent household, and is not a framework for transients or transient living, it conforms to the purpose of the ordinance." 34 N.Y.2d at 305-06, 313 N.E.2d at 758, 357 N.Y.S.2d at 453. The Caromin House group home is therefore a single-family unit within the ordinance.

Operation of the group home by a for-profit corporation does not change the preceding analysis. Although Caromin House receives compensation for its services, the home does not thereby become commercial in nature. The residents...