Second Federal lawsuit hits Springfield Overlay

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Lawsuit: Springfield zoning discriminates against mentally ill, violates fair housing rules

By Steve Patterson Fri, Nov 27, 2015 @ 3:40 pm | updated Fri, Nov 27, 2015 @ 3:50 pm

A second federal lawsuit has been filed challenging the legality of zoning rules in Jacksonville's Springfield area, arguing they were "written to discriminate against ... people with mental illness."

The lawsuit by Disability Rights Florida, a Tallahassee-based advocacy group, asks for an injunction blocking the city from enforcing Springfield's zoning overlay, created about 15 years ago as a unique set of rules for the historic neighborhood north of downtown built in the late 19th and early 20th century.

It pointed to the city's refusal last month to permit an apartment building for the homeless as an example of the overlay blocking mentally ill people from living in the neighborhood.

Ability Housing of Northeast Florida, the Jacksonville-based nonprofit that planned to refurbish a 12-unit building at 139 Cottage Ave., sued last week saying the city had violated the Fair Housing and Americans with Disabilities acts.

The Disability Rights lawsuit was filed Wednesday.

Officials at the city and Disability Rights were both unavailable Friday and their offices were closed for Thanksgiving.

In the earlier lawsuit, Ability Housing described its target tenants as chronically homeless people with disabilities, "some with long histories of psychiatric hospitalization."

The new lawsuit cites a 1999 statement by the Justice Department and the Department of Housing and Urban Development that gave this example of zoning that would violate the Fair Housing Act: "an ordinance prohibiting housing for persons with disabilities or a specific type of disability, such as mental illness, from locating in a particular area, while allowing other groups of unrelated individuals to live together in that area."

The city's former planning director said last year that the Cottage Avenue project would be "akin to" a group home for the disabled and that since new group homes aren't allowed under the overlay, the overlay wouldn't allow Ability Housing's project. The Cottage Avenue building was built as apartments in the 1920s.



Steve Patterson: (904) 359-4263

http://jacksonville.com/news/metro/2015-11-27/story/lawsuit-springfield-zoning-discriminates-against-mentally-ill-violates

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from the lawsuit:

Count One
Fair Housing Act
42 U.S.C. § 3601, et seq.,

The overlay is discriminatory on its face, it was enacted and enforced with discriminatory
intent, and has a disparate impact on persons with psychiatric disabilities.

Count Two
Americans with Disabilities and § 504 of the Rehabilitation Act
42 U.S.C. § 12101, et seq., and 20 U.S.C. § 794, et seq.,

Plaintiffs constituents would have otherwise been qualified to reside in the Springfield
area except for the discriminatory zoning overlay.

Count Three
Equal Protection Clause: United States Constitution

78. The City of Jacksonville, through the use of the Springfield Zoning Overlay, has acted in
an arbitrary and capricious manner to discriminate against persons with psychiatric
disabilities by the use and application of its zoning laws.

79. The City of Jacksonville's actions in enforcing the Springfield Zoning Overlay bear no
rational relation to any conceivable government interest

Count Four
Equal Protection Clause: Florida Constitution

As a result of the City's unlawful conduct, the Plaintiff and its constituents have been and
continue to be damaged.

REQUEST FOR RELIEF

Therefore, Disability Rights Florida, on behalf of its constituents with psychiatric
disabilities, request that this Court:

A. Accept jurisdiction of this case and set it for hearing at the earliest
opportunity;

B. Declare that the actions ofthe Defendant are unlawful and unconstitutional for
the reasons as specified above;

C. Enteran injunction enjoining the Defendant from continuing to violate the
constitutional and statutory rights of individuals with mental illness. Specifically, Plaintiff
seeks an injunction enjoining the City, its officers and officials, their successors in office,
their agents, and all those acting or purporting to act in concert with them, from enforcing the
Springfield Zoning Overlay;

D. Retain jurisdiction over this matter to ensure that the terms of any injunction
are fully implemented;

E. Award Plaintiffs its costs and reasonable attorneys' fees pursuant to 42 U.S.C.
§ 1988,42 U.S.C. § 12205, and 29 U.S.C. § 794; and

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also from the federal law suit:

Disability Rights Florida is designated as the P&A for the State of Florida
under both the Protection and Advocacy for Individuals with Mental Illness Act and the
Developmental Disabilities Assistance and Bill of Rights Act.

After a report and investigation, Disability Rights Florida brings this action on behalf
of its constituents with psychiatric disabilities. The City of Jacksonville's zoning code is
illegal and unconstitutional, especially with respect to the Springfield Zoning Overlay. That
overlay was written to discriminate against certain people, including people with mental
illness. The City continues to enforce the illegal overlay, denying projects as recently as this
year.

The effect of these actions by the City ofJacksonville is that persons with disabilities
are unlawfully restricted firom enjoying dwellings in the Springfield neighborhood and this
unnecessarily deteriorates the possibility of these individuals from fully integrating mto the
community. As a result, these unfair zoning restrictions are a violation of the Fair Housing
Act, the Americans with Disabilities Act, and a violation of the equal protection clauses of
the United States and Florida constitutions.