Support Ministries v. Village of Waterford, NY

• Decision Date: 04 December 1992
• Docket Number: Civ. No. 92-CV-539 RWS.
• Citation: 808 F. Supp. 120
• Parties: SUPPORT MINISTRIES FOR PERSONS WITH AIDS, INC., People of the State of New York by Robert Abrams, Attorney General of the State of New York, and Mary Jo Bane as Commissioner of the New York State Department of Social Services, Plaintiffs, v. VILLAGE OF WATERFORD, NEW YORK, Francis Falcone, Mayor, Anne Morrissey, Trustee, Merle Doud, Trustee, and Terry Coloney, Trustee, as the Village Board of the Village of Waterford, and Kenneth H. Smith, Mary Ann Kelts, William Coffey, and Marge Artt, as the Zoning Board of Appeals of the Village of Waterford, Defendants.
• Court: U.S. District Court — Northern District of New York

808 F. Supp. 120

SUPPORT MINISTRIES FOR PERSONS WITH AIDS, INC., People of the State of New York by Robert Abrams, Attorney General of the State of New York, and Mary Jo Bane as Commissioner of the New York State Department of Social Services, Plaintiffs, v. VILLAGE OF WATERFORD, NEW YORK, Francis Falcone, Mayor, Anne Morrissey, Trustee, Merle Doud, Trustee, and Terry Coloney, Trustee, as the Village Board of the Village of Waterford, and Kenneth H. Smith, Mary Ann Kelts, William Coffey, and Marge Artt, as the Zoning Board of Appeals of the Village of Waterford, Defendants.

Civ. No. 92-CV-539 RWS.

United States District Court, N.D. New York.

December 4, 1992.

COPYRIGHT MATERIAL OMITTED

De Graff, Foy, Holt-Harris & Mealey (James T. Potter, of counsel), Albany, NY, for plaintiff Support Ministries for Persons With AIDS, Inc.

Robert Abrams, Atty. Gen. of the State of N.Y. (Sanford M. Cohen, Donna I. Dennis, Robert R. Reed, of counsel), New York City, for plaintiffs Robert Abrams and Mary Jo Bane.

Donohue, Sabo, Varley & Armstrong, P.C. (Kenneth G. Varley, of counsel), Albany, NY, for defendants.

Kathleen M. Resnick, Albany, NY, for amicus curiae New York Civ. Liberties Union.

Isabelle M. Thabault, Harvey L. Handley III, Housing and Civ. Enforcement Section, Civ. Rights Div., Dept. of Justice, Washington, DC, for amicus curiae U.S.

MEMORANDUM — DECISION AND ORDER

RALPH W. SMITH, Jr., United States Magistrate Judge.

Plaintiffs bring this action pursuant to 42 U.S.C. §§ 1983 and 3601 et seq.¹ They seek declaratory, injunctive, and monetary relief to redress alleged arbitrary and unlawful discrimination by defendants on the basis of handicap as defendants have refused to allow plaintiff Support Ministries for Persons With AIDS, Inc. (hereinafter "Support Ministries"), to open a residence for homeless persons with AIDS (hereinafter "PWAs")² and thus have allegedly violated the rights of handicapped persons under the Federal Fair Housing Act (hereinafter "FHA"), 42 U.S.C. § 3601 et seq., and the Fourteenth Amendment.

This matter was referred to the undersigned on June 23, 1992, by the Honorable Frederick J. Scullin, Jr., United States District Judge, for all further proceedings and the entry of judgment in accordance with 28 U.S.C. § 636(c) and upon consent of the parties.

This court previously found that the state plaintiffs have standing to sue due to the State's proprietary interest in reducing or maintaining the costs of providing care to PWAs and its quasi-sovereign interest in protecting the health and welfare of its citizens. Support Ministries for Persons With Aids, Inc. v. Village of Waterford, 799 F.Supp. 272 (N.D.N.Y.1992).

A bench trial was held before this court on October 26 through 29, 1992. After very careful consideration of the trial transcript, the evidence produced at trial, the pre- and post-trial submissions of the parties, and the amicus curiae briefs submitted by the New York Civil Liberties Union and the United States, this court makes the following findings of fact and conclusions of law.

I. FINDINGS OF FACT

Support Ministries is a New York non-profit corporation with a Board of Directors comprised of representatives from numerous religious denominations throughout the Capital District region and concerned individuals in the community. This plaintiff currently operates a residence for homeless PWAs in the City of Albany and has submitted an application to the Department of Social Services (hereinafter "DSS") for an operating certificate to establish and operate an adult care facility for homeless PWAs at 31 Sixth Street, Waterford, New York (hereinafter the "Sixth Street house").

According to a Program Document issued by Support Ministries, their mission

is to minister to HIV infected people who lack the physical ability to live independently, or the financial and support resources to secure living arrangements conducive to their well-being. This entails moving people out of shelters, hotels/motels or off the street, where isolation and inconsistent care can hasten their demise. The immediate need is for a safe and secure residence for PWAs, a place where they can work toward greater independence. Therefore, the residence will provide services consistent with this goal. Residents are expected to be independent in all normal activities of daily living.

The Sixth Street house would not be a medical facility, and Support Ministries would not be providing medical care to the residents.

In late spring or early summer 1990, after an extensive search, Support Ministries located the Sixth Street house, which was constructed in 1880 as a residence for Roman Catholic priests and was later occupied commencing in 1953 by the Sisters of Mercy. Around 1960 an addition was put onto the building which created a total of fifteen bedrooms. The property was purchased in 1984 by the Holy Cross Fathers and was utilized not as a convent but as a novitiate for the training of incoming novices. From that time until 1990 as many as fifteen people were housed in the building at a given time.

The Sixth Street house is virtually perfectly suited for Support Ministries' purpose to operate an adult home for as many as fifteen PWAs. The building contains fifteen separate bedrooms and several community living areas. In addition, it is located near the geographic center of the Capital District. Limited alterations would be necessary, such as the addition of an elevator, a ramp, and a couple of bathrooms.

Support Ministries entered into negotiations with the Holy Cross Novitiate, Inc., in July 1990 to purchase the property. Support Ministries did not hide its intentions with respect to that property from the community. Rather, in the fall of 1990 Support Ministries commendably contacted Village Mayor Francis Falcone and other members of the community and began holding a series of informational meetings.

On September 25, 1990, at the request of church and community leaders, Support Ministries held a public informational meeting at the United Church in Waterford to explain its proposed use of the building. Mayor Falcone attended along with several residents who expressed strong "moral opposition" to PWAs and the establishment of a residence in the village for PWAs. Support Ministries' Executive Director Nancie Northrup Williams testified that these residents had very bad information about the project and "spent a great deal of time talking about the fact that HIV and AIDS was an illness that people brought on themselves and it was a punishment from God and we had no obligation to respond compassionately to these people."

At the request of Mayor Falcone, Support Ministries held another public informational meeting at the Waterford Rescue Squad building on September 26, 1990 (hereinafter "the rescue squad meeting"). This meeting was attended by the members of the Waterford Board of Trustees (hereinafter "the board"), several members of the Zoning Board of Appeals (hereinafter the "ZBA"), most of the members of the Support Ministries Board of Directors, and between 200 and 250 other people. Support Ministries asked Dr. Stephen Szebenyi, the Medical Director of the AIDS Treatment Center at Albany Medical Center, to make a presentation. Likewise, they asked Margaret Irwin, Executive Director of Joseph House, a homeless shelter, to talk about homelessness and the impact of AIDS on homelessness in the communities. Finally, Support Ministries asked a member of the League of Women Voters to act as the facilitator of the meeting.

At the rescue squad meeting numerous citizens strongly expressed their opposition to the opening of a facility for PWAs in Waterford. Their objections included the fact that the property is located close to a school and a playground as well as fear of AIDS and drugs. Opposition was so strong that the audience grew extremely hostile, so much so that the "heckled" League of Women Voters moderator left, and Mayor Falcone took over the meeting. (At a subsequent board meeting Falcone expressed his pleasure that the woman from the League did not last too long.). At one point, even before there was a complete presentation of the proposed project, he asked everyone who opposed the project to stand. About eighty-five percent of the audience did so.

At approximately the same time as the informational meetings were being held, some village residents began circulating a petition that was captioned: "We, the undersigned residents of Waterford, hereby petition the village zoning board to DENY the varience sic requested by the Support Ministries For Persons With Aids, Inc. to change the zoning at 31 Sixth Street. The purpose requested is to accomodate sic a shelter for the homless sic people infected with aids." (hereinafter "the Petition"). Over 400 village residents signed the Petition, which represented more than half of the village voters in 1991. Among the signatories were Millie Van Buskirk and George Bush. Although neither was a village official at the time the Petition was signed, George Bush was later appointed on November 14, 1990, as Zoning Commissioner, upon nomination by Falcone, and Millie Van Buskirk was appointed to the ZBA, also at the suggestion of Falcone, in September 1991. Several pages of the Petition stated that they should be returned to Ben Kelts, who is the husband of defendant ZBA member Mary Ann Kelts. Family members of other board members also signed the Petition.

On October 10, 1990, the board, which consisted of Mayor Falcone and Trustees Terry Stoliker, Merle Doud, Timothy Breen, and Ernie Bariteau, Jr., conducted its regularly scheduled monthly meeting. During the course of the meeting village residents presented the Petition to the board. Mayor Falcone indicated that he would turn it over to the ZBA.

Also during this meeting one of the village residents asked what stand the board was taking with respect to Support Ministries' proposal to open a home for PWAs. All...