WCS
settlement approved
July
16, 2007 -- The
Common Council last week approved a settlement in the lawsuit
between the city and Wsconsin Community Service over the
siting of a WCS mental health clinic in the 3700 block of
W. Wisconsin Ave.
WCS
settlement advances
Taxpayers "losers," Murphy
says
July
9, 2007 -- Taxpayers
were the losers in the federal court lawsuit against the
city over the siting of a mental health clinic in the 3700
block of W. Wisconsin Ave., according to Ald. Michael Murphy.
While
Wisconsin Community Service agreed to pay its own legal
fees in the case it appeared to be losing, "the vast
majority of their funding comes from us, the taxpayers,"
Murphy said during last week's meeting of the Common Council's
Judiciary and Legislation Committee.
That
means city taxpayers will pay for lawyers on both sides
of the case, which the committee recommended the city settle.
The
WCS suit was unnecessary and the money spent on court costs
and lawyer fees could have gone to provide services to clients,
Murphy said.
Wisconsin
Community Services, formerly Wisconsin Correctional Service,
sued the city in 2001, alleging the city violated the Americans
with Disabilities Act and the Rehabilitation Act when the
Board of Zoning Appeals denied WCS a special use permit
to operate the clinic at 3711 W. Wisconsin Ave.
The Story Hill
Neighborhood Association opposed the clinic's location.
US District Judge
Lynn Adelman sided with WCS, but a three-judge appeals panel
disagreed in a 2-1 decision overturning his ruling.
The full 7th
Circuit Court then agreed to hear the case, and ruled in
October that the city did not reject WCS' request for a
special use permit because of client disabilities, but because
of WCS' "plan to open a non-profit health clinic in
a location where the City desired a commercial, taxpaying
tenant instead."
The court sent
the case back to Adelman, but the the proposed settlement
was reached before the case proceeded further.
Under the agreement,
the city will drop its objections to the issuance of the
special use permit for the clinic and will help arrange
bond financing to allow Wisconsin Community Service to refinance
the mortgage on the building, according to the resolution
approved by the committee.
City Attorney
Grant Langley said the settlement would not force BOZA to
grant the permit, nor would it prevent any neighborhood
group from objecting to it.
Murphy, who emphasized
the value of services provided by WCS and said the organization
had a good relationship with the city, also said the case
preserved important legal rights for municipalities.
Had WCS won,
he said, "It simply would have opened up Pandora's
box in terms of stripping away local government's right
to legally zone certain activities."
Murphy, who represents
Story Hill on the Common Council, also represented the area
where WCS is located when the suit started, but no longer
does. The building now is in Ald. Willie Hines' district.
Settlement
proposed in mental health clinic case
City
would help refinance mortgage
July
2, 2007 -- The city would drop its objections to
the siting of a mental health clinic in the 3700 block of
W. Wisconsin Ave., under a proposed settlement to a long-running
lawsuit between the city and the operators of the facility.
The
city also would arrange bond financing to allow Wisconsin
Community Service to refinance the mortgage on the building,
according to a resolution to be considered Monday by the
Common Council's Judiciary and Legislation Committee.
Wisconsin
Community Services, formerly Wisconsin Correctional Service,
sued the city in 2001, alleging the city violated the Americans
with Disabilities Act and the Rehabilitation Act when the
Board of Zoning Appeals denied WCS a special use permit
to operate the clinic at 3711 W. Wisconsin Ave.
The
Story Hill Neighborhood Association had opposed the clinic's
location.
US
District Judge Lynn Adelman sided with WCS, but a three-judge
appeals panel disagreed in a 2-1 decision overturning his
ruling.
The full 7th
Circuit Court then agreed to hear the case, and ruled in
October that the city did not reject WCS' request for a
special use permit because of client disabilities, but because
of WCS' "plan to open a non-profit health clinic in
a location where the City desired a commercial, taxpaying
tenant instead."
The court sent
the case back to District Court, and the city and WCS began
settlement negotiations, City Attorney Grant Langley and
Assistant City Attorney Jan Smokowicz wrote in a letter
to the council.
"The plaintiffs
have agreed to dismiss their lawsuit and to waive any claims
they may have for damages or attorney's fees in this case,"
they wrote.
The settlement
will not be final until the Board of Zoning Appeals issues
a special use permit for the clinic, they said.
The clinic, designed
to treat 350 clients, has been operating while the case
was pending.
City
wins big decision in WCS mental health clinic case
Is the end finally near?
Oct.
9, 2006 -- A federal appeals court, in a big legal
victory for the city, has ruled that the operator of a mental
health clinic at 37th and Wisconsin did not adequately show
that it its clients' disabilities were the reason it could
not find a clinic site elsewhere.
US
District Judge Lynn Adelman erred in 2004 when he ordered
the city to grant a special use permit for the clinic, operated
by Wisconsin Community Services, the appeals court said.
WCS
sued the city in 2001, after the Board of Zoning Appeals
refused to grant the special use permit. WCS alleged the
city violated the Americans With Disabilities Act and the
Rehabilitation Act.
"The district court assumed that the proposed modification
could be deemed 'necessary' even if the disabilities suffered
by WCS’ patients were not the cause-in-fact of its
inability to find a larger building," Circuit Judge
Kenneth F. Ripple wrote for the court. "The district
court failed to apply a 'but for' causation standard in
determining the necessity element of WCS’ accommodation
claim."
The
court ordered the case sent back to district court "so
that it may afford the parties the opportunity to develop
the question of whether WCS has been prevented, because
of its clients' disabilities, from locating a satisfactory
new facility," according to the decision.
Wisconsin
Community Services, formerly Wisconsin Correctional Service,
sued the city in 2001, alleging the city violated the Americans
with Disabilities Act and the Rehabilitation Act when the
Board of Zoning Appeals denied WCS a special use permit
to operate the clinic at 3711 W. Wisconsin Ave.
Adelman sided with WCS, but a three-judge appeals panel
disagreed in a 2-1 decision overturning his ruling.
The
full 7th Circuit Court -- or 11 of its members, since Circuit
Judge Diane Sykes did not participate -- agreed to hear
the case.
The
court found that the city did not reject WCS' request for
a special use permit because of client disabilities, but
because of WCS' " plan to open a non-profit health
clinic in a location where the City desired a commercial,
taxpaying tenant instead," Ripple wrote."As far
as this record indicates the City would have rejected similar
proposals from non-profit health clinics serving the non-disabled."
Even
Circuit Judge Diane Wood, who sided with WCS as a member
of the original three-judge panel, joined in the decision
remanding the case back to District Court.
If
the city ultimately wins the case, WCS could be forced to
vacate its clinic at 3711 W. Wisconsin Ave., which it opened
after Adelman directed the city to issue the special use
permit. The clinic, designed to treat more than 350 clients,
has been operating while the city's appeal was pending.
The Story Hill
Neighborhood Association has opposed the special use permit
for the clinic location, east of Story Hill.
To read the full
decision, click here.
