Ordinance seeks to limit the concentration of group home facilities

By JESSICA HARDIN

jhardin@vindy.com

POLAND

Two years after a group home created a stir among residents of Evergreen Drive, Poland village is quietly considering new legislation.

But not all council members are in agreement.

The proposed ordinance seeks to limit the concentration of group home facilities by making it illegal to establish group homes within 500 feet of each other.

The ordinance defines a group home as a premises in which three or more unrelated individuals are living together in a residential setting.

Frank DiVito, a private investor who owns the group home on Evergreen Drive and another on Edna Street, called the ordinance “borderline harassment.”

The text of the ordinance describes the limitations as necessary “to preserve the aesthetics and the public peace, health, safety and welfare” of the community.

PUBLIC INPUT?

Although the issue is controversial, discussion of the ordinance has happened largely outside of public input.

The first discussion of the ordinance took place on election night. A second discussion, which was on the agenda for Tuesday’s council meeting, took place 15 minutes before caucus began.

Councilman Sam Moffie introduced the ordinance after receiving complaints from the home’s neighbors. While campaigning, residents of Evergreen Drive informed him that a second group home had been established around the corner from the first house, on Edna Street.

“I wanted to show people of that neighborhood that I’m listening,” Moffie said.

CRIME CONCERNS

In the summer of 2016, neighbors first voiced concerns that group homes would affect property values and increase traffic and crime in Poland neighborhoods. At the time, DiVito began to house disabled women at his Evergreen Drive property with the help of New Leaf Residential Services Inc., an organization that staffs and manages group homes for people with developmental disabilities.

The women receive round-the-clock care from guardians and caretakers. Although village zoning restricts the neighborhood to single-family homes, the residents are protected under the Fair Housing Act and Americans with Disabilities Act, which prevent housing discrimination.

Despite their concerns, neighbors were not able to circumvent these protections. Former village solicitor Anthony D’Apolito told community members he felt confident that the federal government would block efforts by local government to challenge the issue.

The legality of the proposed ordinance is in question, too.

In a 2015 joint statement updated in August 2015, the U.S. Department of Justice and the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development said, “The Department of Justice and HUD take the position, and most courts that have addressed the issue agree, that density restrictions are generally inconsistent with the Fair Housing Act.”

DISAGREEMENT

Not all Poland council members support the new legislation.

“Neighbors are neighbors,” Councilwoman Martha Morgan said. “I have not yet heard anyone raise to me why these people are neighbors [who] require additional regulation, legislation, anything like that.”

Councilman Anthony Lattanzio echoed her concerns, noting that he has not observed spikes in crime since the establishment of the first group home.

Morgan and Lattanzio, though new to council, said that they have not gotten complaints from constituents regarding the homes.

“It doesn’t make me feel right without substance to legislate for,” Lattanzio said.

About the proposed ordinance, Moffie said, “I wanted to be a lot tougher ... this is the only thing I could get passed.”

Specifically, Moffie and his constituents are concerned about the homes’ employees. Because they provide round-the-clock care, employees are driving into and out of Poland village at various times throughout the day.

MOTIVATIONS

DiVito, however, contends that the opposition is racially motivated.

“They don’t like the color of the people [who] work at my house,” DiVito said. He explained that the people of color employed at his group homes have been harassed in the neighborhood.

Moffie rejected DiVito’s contention.

“That is a pathetic response from a man who is taking advantage of the federal Fair Housing Act and profiteering from it,” Moffie said.

The first reading of the ordinance is scheduled to take place at council’s Dec. 4 meeting at 7 p.m. at village hall.