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Women’s shelter sues county board for denying zoning variance request

By Lucas González

Posted August 1, 2023

Image of the home on East Kerr Creek Road that Sojourn bought in December. (courtesy of Zillow)

A local nonprofit serving women who’ve been trafficked is suing the Monroe County Board of Zoning Appeals after the board twice rejected its request for a zoning variance.

Sojourn House for Women alleges the board discriminated against program participants by denying the variance request for a home in eastern Monroe County that would house eight women.

A zoning variance is a request for an exception from current zoning requirements. A variance allows the owner of a property to use the land in a way otherwise not permitted by zoning law or regulations.

Sojourn House president Carissa Muncie said the lawsuit challenges the board’s adherence to the Fair Housing Act and Americans with Disabilities Act. The laws prohibit discrimination based on physical or mental disabilities, such as post-traumatic stress disorder.

The nonprofit’s case has been filed by attorneys Lonnie Johnson and Cheyenne Riker.

“I look at those women, and I think judgments are being made about what their needs are,” Muncie said. “I would love for neighbors and people who are against this kind of program being near them to think about these women as individuals. These are women who have decided to be on the right track and get all the help they need.”

The board denied the nonprofit’s first variance request in March based on the county’s zoning regulations, which were last updated in 1997.

The land bought by Sojourn is an eight-acre property zoned as an Agricultural/Rural Reserve. Local zoning regulations do not allow for group home facilities there but do allow single-family dwellings. Muncie said Sojourn got approval from the county to use the property as intended before presenting its variance request to the board.

Neighbors spoke against Sojourn’s request at previous board meetings, saying they were concerned about its ability to maintain the property and the group’s potential to bring nonresidential activity to the area.

One commenter said the home is not close to services — such as community resources, public transportation and schools — so Sojourn House should focus its services in urban areas. Muncie disagrees.

“It’s my belief that a lot of the concerns they raised about the location for the women were pretty thinly veiled excuses,” Muncie said. “We actually thought of all of that. We have volunteers for transportation; we have ways to get everybody to the things they need. This isn’t a barrier for us to be out in the county as opposed to the city.”

Muncie said residents also raised concerns about their property values decreasing, more traffic in their neighborhoods and an increase in crime. She said she addressed those concerns in private conversations with neighbors.

In late June, Sojourn House appealed the board’s rejection of the variance. But the board opted not to hear the appeal and removed it from its meeting agenda.

The board said it does not hear repeat cases within a year after initial consideration. An applicant can file an amended petition during that period, but the board did not believe the amended request was substantially different from the one submitted in March.

Muncie said the amended request included a notarized written commitment to no more than eight women living in the home at once.

Board members declined an interview with WFIU/WTIU News, saying they were advised by the county legal department not to speak on the matter. A county attorney representing the board declined to comment on the lawsuit.