Dunwoody City Council
settles lawsuits over Manget Way home
The Dunwoody City Council voted 5-2
at a special July 10 meeting to settle two lawsuits with the Center for
Discovery over the Manget Way home treatment facility.
The settlement agreement ends two
lawsuits the city is facing by the Center for Discovery — one in the DeKalb
County Court of Appeals and the second in federal court. The federal lawsuit
was seeking $5 million.
The final amount of the settlement will
be determined when the Court of Appeals rules, likely this summer. If the city
wins in the Court of Appeals, the settlement total will be $550,000; if the
city loses the Court of Appeals case, the settlement is $850,000.
The rehabilitation facility on Manget
Way that will treat teenage girls with eating disorders will also be able to
open.
“This is a very, very difficult decision
for everybody up here. Our legal attorneys have told us that chances of are
winning … are not that great. This is gut wrenching,” Mayor Denis Shortal said.
“But it is a decision … that protects the citizens of the city and the
financial viability of the city going into the future.”
Shortal said the reason for the short
notice for the Sunday special called hearing is because the deadline to agree
to a settlement is Monday, July 11, at 11 a.m. The City Council met in
executive session for an hour before the vote.
“Monetary funds may be the pay out but
the real cost will be borne by the neighbors of Manget Way,” said Councilmember
Terry Nall, who cast a “no” vote along with Councilmember John Heneghan.
“The settlement contains numerous
non-monetary provisions to lessen the impact on the neighbors, but the
neighbors of Manget Way still lose,” Nall said.
“We would not be here today if our
Community Development staff asked more questions when the original Zoning
Certification Letter was requested. Period,” Nall said.
Councilmember Lynn Deutsch said the
settlement agreement allowed the city to negotiate some terms with the Center
for Discovery before it opens the rehab facility, including limited parking, no
signage and keeping the home looking as it does now.
In the Court of Appeals case, the city
was appealing a decision last year by DeKalb Superior Court Judge Clarence
Seeliger. The judge
reversed the city’s Zoning Board of Appeals decision to prohibit the Center for
Discovery from opening a home treatment center on Manget Way.
The Center for Discovery also filed a
federal lawsuit last year claiming the city, among other things, violated the
federal Fair Housing Act by discriminating against its patients.
The city has been represented by Laurel
Henderson of the Georgia Interlocal Management Risk
Agency, or GIRMA.
Municipalities pay dues to GIRMA and when sued GIRMA will handle the legal
defense and also pay out some settlement costs if necessary.
She explained the city’s chances of
winning, especially the federal lawsuit, were slim. “The law under the Fair
Housing Act is heavily against the city prevailing,” she said. Henderson told
the council that GIRMA “has agreed to contribute $600,000 for the settlement.”
The Center for Discovery purchased
property on Manget Way and in January 2014, the city confirmed the property
would be classified as a “family personal care home,” according to the federal
lawsuit.
After the deadline to appeal the city’s
approval of the property for such use, “a group of neighbors trespassed on
plaintiff’s property and made false presumptions about plaintiff’s intended use
based on the statements of a sprinkler contractor,” according to the federal
lawsuit.
Neighbors quickly rallied opposition and
urged support from city officials to deny the facility be allowed on Manget
Way. The neighbors argued the facility had wrongly been considered a personal
care home instead of a medical treatment facility, which would be prohibited in
a single-family neighborhood. In June 2014, the city’s Zoning Board of Appeals
ruled in the neighbors’ favor. Center for Discovery sued the ZBA, leading to
its victory last year in DeKalb Superior Court.
http://www.reporternewspapers.net/2016/07/10/dunwoody-city-council-settles-lawsuits-manget-way-home/
Comments
Zoning in
Single Family Residential R-100 has been limited so that the character of
subdivisions remained protected. The
“care home” designation has opened subdivisions to intrusion by allowing a
medical treatment facility to operate in a single family home in the middle of
a subdivision. Zoning is now much weaker
than it was. To remedy this, “care
homes’ need to be removed from R-100.
In the
Manget Way case, the entire fault rests with Dunwoody Community Development
City Staff, who insisted that “care homes” be included in R-100 and failing to
communicate to the applicant that their plan would require full vetting by ZBA
and approval by City Council before they could proceed. Homeowners are now “on their own” and
vulnerable to more damage to their property values and should add this threat
to those they already face.
Norb
Leahy, Dunwoody GA Tea Party Leader
No comments:
Post a Comment