Jennings v. New York State Office of Mental Health

• Decision Date: 12 June 1997
• Citation: 660 N.Y.S.2d 352,90 N.Y.2d 227,682 N.E.2d 953
• Parties: , 682 N.E.2d 953 In the Matter of Gerald D. JENNINGS, as Mayor of the City of Albany, Respondent, v. NEW YORK STATE OFFICE OF MENTAL HEALTH et al., Appellants.
• Court: New York Court of Appeals Court of Appeals

Page 352

660 N.Y.S.2d 352

90 N.Y.2d 227, 682 N.E.2d 953

In the Matter of Gerald D. JENNINGS, as Mayor of the City of

Albany, Respondent, v. NEW YORK STATE OFFICE OF MENTAL HEALTH et al., Appellants.

Court of Appeals of New York.

June 12, 1997.

Dennis C. Vacco, Attorney General, Albany (Patrick Barnett-Mulligan, Barbara G. Billet and Peter H. Schiff, of counsel), for New York State Office of Mental Health and another, appellants.

Stein & Schonfeld, Garden City (Robert L. Schonfeld, Seth P. Stein and Beth Pepper, of counsel), for Rehabilitation Support Services, Inc., appellant.

Vincent J. McArdle, Jr., Corporation Counsel of City of Albany (Thomas A. Shepardson, of counsel), for respondent.

Lydia R. Marola, Albany, for New York State Conference of Mayors and Municipal Officials, amicus curiae.

Simeon Goldman, Albany, for Disability Advocates, Inc., amicus curiae.

Chadbourne & Parke, L.L.P., New York City (Thomas E. Riley and Steven L. Vollins, of counsel), for Planned Community Living, Inc., amicus curiae.

Douglas A. Eldridge, Albany, for New York State Rehabilitation Association, Inc., amicus curiae.

OPINION OF THE COURT

SMITH, Judge.

New York State policy has long favored the establishment of residential housing facilities to deinstitutionalize the treatment of mentally disabled persons. However, some residents of the Pine Hills community in the City of Albany (the City) believed that their neighborhood was already overcrowded with such facilities. The present dispute arose when the City filed an objection to the siting of the newest housing residence proposed for the area pursuant to Mental Hygiene Law § 41.34. Following a hearing, the Acting Commissioner of the New York State Office of Mental Health (the Commissioner) found that the proposed facility would not substantially alter the nature or character of the neighborhood in question. ¹ We conclude that the determination of the Commissioner is supported by substantial evidence and dismiss the City's CPLR article 78 petition against the Commissioner's decision.

In December of 1994, Rehabilitation Support Services, Inc. (RSS), a private sponsor of residential facilities for disabled adults, notified the City that it wished to renovate an abandoned structure at 117 South Lake Avenue and open a community residential facility for the mentally disabled at that location. Gerald D. Jennings, the Mayor of the City of Albany, wrote the Commissioner "to formally object to the siting of a community residence proposed for the premises located at 117 South Lake Avenue." Without suggesting an alternative site for the proposed facility, Mayor Jennings requested a hearing pursuant to Mental Health Law § 41.34(c)(5) to resolve the dispute. It was the first time that the City had objected "under the Mental Hygiene Law to [the] siting of a facility."

At the hearing, the Director of Program Development for RSS testified that the proposed facility would provide transitional housing for 10 mentally disabled adults who had been recently discharged from an institutional psychiatric hospital. The RSS representative testified that the facility would offer a "supportive natural setting" for the residents to organize their lives, set goals and prepare "for [a] more long-term housing setting where they would then continue their progress in their rehabilitation and using a variety of community services to help them do that." She testified that residents would attend school or work during the day. In the evenings, residents would dine together "family style" and engage in various activities, such as homework or household chores, before retiring.

Licensed by the New York State Office of Mental Health, the facility would be supervised around the clock by a nonresident staff working in shifts. At most times, one or two staff members would be on duty but up to three staff members could share supervisory responsibilities during the busiest part of the day. Persons who are in immediate danger to themselves or others, are chemically dependent upon drugs or alcohol or have acute medical needs that require on-site medical supervision would not be permitted to reside in the house.

A representative of the Albany County Department of Mental Health testified that according to the estimates of the Albany County Discharge Facilitation Program, there were around 90 people receiving inpatient care who were presently in need of a community residential placement such as the one proposed. There was also evidence that, at the time, there was "only one other similar residential program" providing a short-term placement option for the mentally disabled in the process of "reentering and integrating themselves into the community." The need for the proposed facility was apparently exacerbated by the mandated "depletion of inpatient services" at area State psychiatric hospitals. In a written statement, the Albany County Department of Mental Health professed its support of the proposed facility "in the hopes of offsetting potential increases in homelessness, recidivism, and overall disenfranchisement that could result within our community." The City did not dispute the need for the proposed facility.

The City's Director of Planning testified that the decrepit building where the new facility was to be established was currently a "blighting influence" on the community. The witness acknowledged that the planned renovation "might be a physical improvement in terms of the exterior of the building." Nevertheless, the Planning Director and the City's remaining witnesses still argued against the establishment of the proposed residence because the area was already over concentrated with such housing facilities.

According to the City's witnesses, the prevalence of special needs housing already in the neighborhood had a negative effect on property values which made it difficult for people to sell and to attract others to the area. One witness claimed to have heard of a real estate agent who would not show houses in the area because the neighborhood had become known as "where all the nuts live." Others testified that some parents in the neighborhood would not let their children play on the front yard of their homes. Another witness testified to "erratic, annoying, [and] disturbing behavior" by residents of facilities already established in the neighborhood.

The Hearing Officer's report is dated June 20, 1995. She defined the relevant area to examine. Some witnesses had testified about the boundaries encompassed by the Pine Hills Neighborhood Association. The City's Director of Planning had submitted maps showing special needs housing facilities within varying concentric circles around 117 South Lake Avenue, the site of the proposed facility. However, the Hearing Officer delineated the relevant area as that within the boundaries suggested by the residents living closest to 117 South Lake. These residents, who testified on behalf of the City, testified about their understanding of the boundaries of their immediate neighborhood. The Hearing Officer stated that her "visit to the site and its environs verified this testimony."

Within this 13-block area, the Hearing Officer found four similar facilities already in existence. Some facilities were not considered because they were located outside the immediate neighborhood. One residence within the relevant area was not considered because its housing capacity was over 14, the maximum defined under Mental Hygiene Law § 41.34.

Finally, the Hearing Officer did not factor in the presence of Oxford House, "an unlicensed self-selecting group of adults recovering from addictions living together in a residence" located within the neighborhood. The fact that Oxford House was not licensed by the State was significant in her decision to exclude it in her analysis of over concentration. As she stated "[t]he development of better neighborhood housing for the developmentally and mentally disabled should not be stymied by the presence of housing developed by unrelated adults banding together for 'moral support and counseling.' "

The Hearing Officer concluded that the "siting of the proposed facility at 117 South Lake Avenue will not result in such a concentration of community residential facilities of this type in this municipality that the nature and character of the area would be substantially altered." The Hearing Officer further opined that the "real issue driving this hearing" could be "laid squarely at the doorstep of the Alcohol Crisis Center, a 40 bed shelter for alcoholics located within CDPC [Capital District Psychiatric Center] * * *. A drunk tank can not be added to a residential mix without negatively affecting all the other facilities in the area, and dampening the welcome historically given by the neighbors."

The Commissioner concurred with the Hearing Officer's recommendation and concluded that the establishment of the residence would not result in a substantial change in the nature and character of the neighborhood. The Commissioner rejected the testimony about "inappropriate behavior" as vague and unassignable "to persons who reside in programs such as that proposed." The Commissioner noted that testimony about diminished property values was irrelevant to the issue of substantial alteration to the area. He also noted that "perceptions about persons with mental disabilities cannot be used to bar housing for [those] persons * * * just as perceptions about persons based on their race, religion and ethnicity cannot be used to keep such persons from residing in a neighborhood."

The Commissioner adopted the delineation of the relevant area recommended by the Hearing Officer. In his examination of the facilities already within the neighborhood, the Commissioner found "ten residential programs which must be considered on the issues of over concentration and substantial alteration." These included the four considered by the Hearing Officer and the one facility...