Fallout follows Council vote on rehab services zoning

Depending on who is asked, Tuesday’s Metro Council vote to continue not allowing rehabilitation services in agricultural districts was either a case of local government standing up to Uncle Sam, or a case of an elected body all but tempting the Department of Justice to take serious action against Metro for violating federal land use acts.

This much is certain: the DOJ is investigating Metro’s land use practices as a result of a lawsuit brought on by a nonprofit called Teen Challenge last year.

The case has moved to a damages-only trial, which means Metro has all but admitted it did in fact violate portions of the Fair Housing Act and/or the Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act.

As a good faith effort to show Metro intends to comply with federal law, Metro Law Director Sue Cain suggested Council pass a bill that allows rehabilitation services in agricultural districts.

But 20 Council members effectively ignored Cain’s advice, and despite possible repercussions ranging from frozen federal education dollars to an injunction, voted against the bill.

“I don’t think a lot of Council members realize the magnitude of it,” District 25 Councilman Sean McGuire said. “I’m really concerned about the status of our federal grant money. I’m not saying I’m right, I’m just saying some people didn’t realize what was going on.”

Some, like District 4 Councilman Michael Craddock, said the federal government should not meddle in local zoning issues. Craddock was so conflicted on the vote he said he wished he didn’t have to cast one.

Mayor Karl Dean was running for office last year when Council passed the resolution that has spurred the investigation.

“While I wasn’t here when this occurred, it’s important for the city to carefully consider the advice of the legal department,” said Dean, himself the former Metro Law Director.

The fallout that led to the Teen Challenge lawsuit, the DOJ investigation and now possible federal action against Metro stemmed from a 2006 debate between a Goodlettsville neighborhood and a faith-based nonprofit.

Teen Challenge, which provides drug, alcohol and other rehabilitation services to young people (including helping those who “struggle with prostitution and homo-sexuality”), wanted to buy a home in Goodlettsville to use as a rehab facility.

When the neighbors came out against the proposal, District 10 Councilman Rip Ryman passed a bill that altered zoning code so that rehabilitation services were no longer allowed in AG and AR2a districts.

The property Teen Challenge had purchased was previously zoned for such uses, so the group sued claiming discrimination. This prompted the DOJ investigation into whether Metro violated the federal Fair Housing and Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons acts.

Now the question is whether or not Ryman and Council discriminated against Teen Challenge when they passed the bill that brought on the zoning change. The DOJ investigation has included copying computer files in various Metro offices, including Codes, Planning, Health and Council.

To some, such as District 31 Councilman Parker Toler, the larger issue is creating a policy that gives groups like Teen Challenge a district to have their facilities.

As of now, group home rehab facilities can have up to eight unrelated people and three staffers. But larger facilities effectively don’t have the zoning, without a specific plan zoning, anywhere in the city.

“The next step is going to be to come up with standards as far as setback, size of the facility, operating hours and things of that nature, so we can have these facilities in Nashville and have the guidelines to help with neighbors’ concerns,” Toler said. “Because we need the safeguards in place, but we need to have groups like this in our community.”

Toler points out that infrastructure issues like water and sewer hookup and fire code issues like sprinkler systems, effectively mean it would be extremely difficult for a nonprofit to build a new facility in AG and AR2a districts any way.

“I don’t think passing the bill would have done much, because I don’t think there would have been any that would have come in anyway,” Toler said.