Laserfiche WebLink
<br />June 25, 20081 Volume 21 No. 12 <br /> <br />j. Constitutionality - Equal Protection- <br />City denies organization's application <br />to ~perate federal halfway house <br /> <br />Organization-argues city's ordinance banning <br />federal halfway houses violates equal <br />protection under the state constitution <br /> <br />. Citation: Community Resources for Justice, Inc. v. City of Manchester, <br />2008 WL 1757218 (N.H 2008) <br /> <br />NEW HAMPSHIRE (04/18/08)~Community Resources for Justice, <br />Inc. (CR]) was a non-profit organization. It 6perated "halfway houses" <br />under contracts with the Federal BUreau of Prisons. <br />CRJ sought approval to use a building it owned in the city as a half- <br />way house. <br />The city's zoning board of appeals (the city) denied such approval. <br />Under the city's zoning ordinance, federal correctional facilities were not <br />a permitted use in any of the city's zoning districts. The city determined <br />that, under the zoning ordinance, CRrs proposed use of a halfway house <br />was a federal correction facility, and was therefore not permitted. <br />CRJ brought a lawsuit, challenging the zoning ordinance. It 2.Igued, <br />among other things, that the city's ban of federal correctional facilities, <br />as applied to CRJ, violated its federal and state constitutional rights to <br />equal protection. <br />The lower court found that the city's ordinance, as applied to CRJ, vi- <br />olated CRrs equal protection rights under the State Constitution because <br />it did not promote or provide for the general welfare of the community. <br />The lower court granted CRJ a "builder's remedy." This gave CRJ the <br />right to operate its building in the city as a halfway house. . <br />The city appealed. <br /> <br />DECISION: Affirmed. <br /> <br />" <br /> <br />The court concluded that the citY's zoning ordinance banning the use <br />of CRrs building as a federal halfway house violated equal protection, <br />as applied to CRJ. The court noted that an equal protection challenge <br />to a zoning. ordinance was subject to intermediate scrutiny. This meant <br />that the burden was oil the city to demonstrate that the zoning ordinance <br />was substantially related to an important governmental objective. The <br />city had to prove that distinguishing halfway houses from other similar <br />residential facilities and institutions served an important governmental <br /> <br />@ 2008 Thomson ReuterslWest <br /> <br />5 <br /> <br />29 <br />