Jeffrey O. v. City of Boca Raton

• Decision Date: 26 February 2007
• Docket Number: No. 03-80178-CIV.,03-80178-CIV.
• Citation: 511 F.Supp.2d 1339
• Parties: JEFFREY O. et al., Plaintiffs, v. CITY OF BOCA RATON, Defendant.
• Court: U.S. District Court — Southern District of Florida

511 F.Supp.2d 1339

JEFFREY O. et al., Plaintiffs, v. CITY OF BOCA RATON, Defendant.

No. 03-80178-CIV.

United States District Court, S.D. Florida.

February 26, 2007.

COPYRIGHT MATERIAL OMITTED

James Kellogg Green, West Palm Beach, FL, William K. Hill, Melissa Pallett-Vasquez, Bilzin Sumberg Baena Price & Axelrod, Miami, FL, for Plaintiffs.

Diana Grub Frieser, City of Boca Raton, Boca Raton, FL, Jamie Alan Cole, Matthew Harris Mandel, Weiss Serota Helfman Pastoriza et al., Fort Lauderdale, FL, for Defendant

FINAL ORDER

DONALD M. MIDDLEBROOKS, District Judge.

This cause came before the Court for final disposition during a non jury trial from January 22, 2007 through January 29, 2007. Plaintiffs brought suit against the Defendant City of Boca Raton in March 2003, alleging that it violated the Fair Housing Act, 42 U.S.C. § 3601 et seq. (FHA), Title II of the Americans with Disabilities Act, 42 U.S.C. § 12131 et seq. (ADA), and the 14th Amendment to the United States Constitution by passing Ordinance 4649, as amended by Ordinance 4701, and Section 28-2. Primarily, Plaintiffs allege that the City's actions discriminate against them based on their handicapped status where these two zoning provisions limit the ability of Plaintiffs to reside in residential areas of the City. Pursuant to Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 52(a), I make the following findings of fact and conclusions of law.

Facts

Plaintiffs are individuals who are recovering alcoholics and drug addicts ("Individual Plaintiffs"), as well as corporate entities ("Provider Plaintiffs") which provide housing and additional services to approximately 390 recovering individuals in areas zoned for residential use within the Defendant City of Boca Raton ("City"). Steve Manko is the president of Provider Plaintiffs who own a number of apartment buildings which are marketed to recovering individuals as sober housing. In their sober housing, Provider Plaintiffs provide different levels of oversight to their residents, including, but not limited to drug testing, curfews, room checks, medication controls, and group meetings.

In 2002, the City was faced with the dilemma of how to regulate sober houses, such as Provider Plaintiffs'. Ordinance Number 4649 was proposed to deal with the issue. At the city council meeting where the council took up this ordinance, many residents of the City spoke specifically about Provider Plaintiffs' facilities and their impact on the neighborhood. Provider Plaintiffs served approximately 390 individuals in 14 apartment buildings, all of which are within a quarter of a mile of each other. The residents of the City expressed many concerns, including the way in which Provider Plaintiffs operated their business. Specifically, residents spoke to Provider Plaintiffs' policy of evicting individuals who relapse while keeping the person's deposit¹ and kicking individuals out with no where to go when they relapsed. The residents were also concerned about the changing dynamic of their neighborhood where the individuals living in Provider Plaintiffs' buildings frequently loitered in front of the apartment buildings, did not stay for more than a few months, and were often from out of town. There were also a lot of broad generalizations made by residents at the meeting, regarding the negative impact a high concentration of recovering individuals had on their neighborhood. One resident testified that he was able to purchase drugs at Boca House. At that meeting, the city council passed Ordinance Number 4649. The city council later passed Ordinance 4701 which amended Ordinance 4649. Ordinance Number 4649, as amended by Ordinance Number 4701 ("Ordinance 4649") states:

Substance Abuse Treatment Facility shall mean a service provider or facility that is: 1) licensed or required to be licensed pursuant to Section 397.311(18). Fla. Stat. or 2) used for room and board only and in which treatment and rehabilitation activities are provided at locations other than the primary residential facility, whether or not the facilities used for room and board and for treatment and rehabilitation are operated under the auspices of the same provider. For the purposes of this subparagraph (2), service providers or facilities which require tenants or occupants to participate in treatment or rehabilitation activities, or perform testing to determine whether tenants or occupants are drug and/or alcohol free, as a term or condition of, or essential component of, the tenancy or occupancy shall be deemed to satisfy the "treatment and rehabilitation activities" component of the definition contained in this section.

The Ordinance requires that Substance Abuse Treatment Facilities as defined above be located in the City's Medical Center District, or with approval, in a Motel/Business district.

The City put forth evidence to establish that in passing Ordinance 4649 it was attempting to group together compatible uses and separate non-compatible uses. For example, the City's Mayor testified that Provider Plaintiffs engaged in commercial and medical uses, therefore making them appropriately placed in medical or commercial zones. The City's planning and zoning director testified that Provider Plaintiffs' facilities which offered a "unique recovery program" were different from normal apartment buildings. The planning and zoning director also explained that the services provided by Provider Plaintiffs were not residential in character. Therefore, where the services provided were not residential in character, Provider Plaintiffs' facilities should not be located in a residential area according to the planning and zoning director.

Provider Plaintiffs' buildings are located in an area with other multi-family residences. In addition, the area in which Provider Plaintiffs' buildings are located is very close to commercial areas. The appearance of Provider Plaintiffs' buildings does not stand out in the area. There was no evidence at trial as to how Provider Plaintiffs' facilities impacted the surrounding residential area, including but not limited to additional cars in the area, additional foot, traffic in the area, a burden on public resources, or even an appearance that was out of character with the area.

Also involved in this case, is a provision of the City Code, Section 28-2, which defines the term family as:

1 person or a group of 2 or more persons living together and interrelated by bonds of consanguinity, marriage, or legal adoption, or a group of persons not more than 3 in number who are not so interrelated, occupying the whole or part of a dwelling as a separate housekeeping unit with a single set of culinary facilities. The persons thus constituting a family may also include gratuitous guests and domestic servants. Any person under the age of 18 years whose legal custody has been awarded to the state department of health and rehabilitative services or to a child-placing agency licensed by the department, or who is otherwise considered to be a foster child under the laws of the state, and who is placed in foster care with a family, shall be deemed to be related to a member of the family for purposes of this chapter. Nothing herein shall be construed to include any roomer or boarder as a member of a family.

The City requires a residential dwelling unit be occupied by one family. Therefore, this provision limits the amount of unrelated people who can live in a residential dwelling unit in the City.

Individual Plaintiffs and the current residents of Provider Plaintiffs who testified were all recovering alcoholics or drug addicts. Because of their addiction, these individuals lost jobs and families, and some were unable to keep a roof over their head during their active addiction. One Plaintiff testified that personal hygiene was the first ability he lost during a relapse. He did not take care of himself, including self-grooming and eating. A current resident of Provider Plaintiffs testified that during her active addiction she was homeless. Each of the recovering individuals testified as to the difficulties they were faced with as addicts, including an inability to possess large amounts of money, have an intimate relationship with another person, or be around people consuming alcohol or using drugs. Recovery from alcohol or drug addiction is an ongoing process, which for many individuals can be a lifelong process. At one time each of the Individual Plaintiffs lived in Provider Plaintiffs' apartment buildings. They also testified that if they relapsed they would return to live in Provider Plaintiffs' residences. The restrictions imposed by Provider Plaintiffs during the residents' early stages of recovery aided these individuals as they advanced through their recovery.

Plaintiffs' expert, Riley Regan, testified as to the impact addiction has on one's life, not just during active addiction, but also for the rest of his or her life. It is common for recovering individuals to need to. live in an environment that is drug and alcohol free in order to further their recovery. Regan stated that without drug testing there is no way for everyone to be sure that the living environment is drug and alcohol free. This testimony was also supported by the recovering individuals who testified that drug testing kept them motivated to stay sober and kept them safe. Regan also testified about the need for recovering individuals not to live alone because loneliness can trigger a relapse and living with other individuals imposes an accountability to other, people. This testimony was in line with that of the recovering individuals who testified where they described loneliness and boredom as possible triggers to relapses. This is not to say that some of the individuals wanted to live alone and did live alone, but many acknowledged the benefits they had and could reap from living with other recovering individuals.

Provider Plaintiffs provided many tools to recovering individuals to aid in...