Weary of more than a year of failed administrative attempts to get the city of North Little Rock's approval for setting up a house in the Lakewood area for up to five disabled people and a full-time caretaker, a Lonoke man took his case to federal court on Tuesday.
"He tried everything up to suing them," attorney Dana McClain said on behalf of her client, Koy Butler. She said Butler finally turned to the federal courts because he "felt like he didn't have much of a choice."
On July 31, the city's Board of Adjustment denied Butler's latest application to establish the House of Three at 4404 Arlington Drive, when a motion to approve the request failed to receive a second from the four board members participating. The board chairman, Carl Jackson, didn't participate because he lives next door to the house that Butler bought last year.
Five residents, including the leaders of two neighborhood groups, spoke up against Butler's application, while three other people besides Butler spoke in favor of it.
In December, the City Council denied Butler's request for a rezoning and a special-use permit to operate the house. The council later amended the city's zoning ordinance to allow its Board of Adjustment to hear requests for reasonable accommodation, a process required by the federal Fair Housing Amendments Act that the city previously didn't have in place.
According to the lawsuit filed Tuesday in Little Rock, the House of Three is a business that operates homes where up to five unrelated people with disabilities have an opportunity to live together in a community environment instead of an institution. Butler operates a similar home in the Leawood neighborhood of Little Rock for three elderly people. He calls it an alternative to a traditional nursing home or assisted-living facility.
He said he asked North Little Rock to allow up to five residents because that city's zoning code allows up to five unrelated people to live together.
Matt Fleming, North Little Rock deputy city attorney, said Tuesday that he hadn't seen the lawsuit. He has previously said that Butler would be running a business and that being elderly doesn't fit the fair housing definition for being disabled. Similarly, Lakewood residents complained in the July 31 hearing that if Butler wants to operate a business, he should do so in a commercial zone.
Mary Beth Cravens, a long-time resident of North Little Rock who wants to live in the Arlington Drive house, has been diagnosed with Alzheimer's, according to the lawsuit. She is being represented in the suit through her daughter, DeeDee Cravens.
The lawsuit said the city's denial violates several federal laws, including the Fair Housing Act and the Americans with Disabilities Act, as well as the Arkansas Civil Rights Act of 1993 and the Arkansas Fair Housing Act.
The lawsuit notes that prior to purchasing the Arlington Drive house, Butler contacted the North Little Rock planning director to see what he needed to do to get approval for his plan. He said that after answering some questions assuring that he wouldn't be housing anyone on parole or in an alcohol or drug rehabilitation program, he received notice on Aug. 8, 2013, that his proposal complied with the city's definition of "family" as described in the city code.
"With the city's approval an offer was made and accepted on the home," the lawsuit states. It says that a week later -- on Aug. 15, 2013 -- Planning Director Robert Voyles and Assistant City Attorney Daniel McFadden withdrew the approval on the grounds that it sounded like the house was intended to be used as a nursing home or a convalescent home in an area zoned for single-family homes.
In late August 2013, Butler filed a complaint with the Arkansas Fair Housing Commission alleging discriminatory practices by North Little Rock. Later, after a government shutdown delayed any action on the complaint, he decided to proceed under the city's zoning ordinances.
Now, the lawsuit states, the situation with the house "is right back where it started in August of 2013. People with disabilities are no closer to being able to live in the Lakewood neighborhood than they were a year ago, and North Little Rock is free to continue to discriminate against people with disabilities or entities such as House of Three who are interested in developing neighborhood homes for peoples with disabilities to live in."
The lawsuit, assigned to U.S. District Judge Susan Webber Wright, seeks a declaration that the city has violated the Fair Housing Act and an order enjoining the city from discriminating on the basis of disability and failing to make "reasonable accommodations" as required by the law. It also asks that the city be ordered "to take all affirmative steps to ensure compliance" with the law, and seeks compensatory and punitive damages.
Metro on 10/29/2014