Civil Rights — racial discrimination — zoning

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United States Court of Appeals For the Seventh Circuit

Civil

Civil Rights — racial discrimination — zoning

A city’s refusal to rezone property in an industrial area to permit a senior residence facility likely to be occupied by mostly black persons was not the result of discrimination.

“It is easy to see why it would make sense to zone heavy and light manufacturing districts differently. Oak Forest’s decision to do so is not unique. See Atlantic Container, Inc. v. Township of Eagleswood Planning Board, 728 A.2d 849, 856 (N.J. App. 1999); 1 Patricia E. Salkin, American Law of Zoning § 9:46 (5th ed. 2012). The amended ordinance (like the ordinance in the Atlantic Container case) sets higher limits for emissions of smoke, particulates, and odors in the heavy-industry (M-2) districts, and specifies larger lot-size and setback requirements in those districts. Light industry, which includes for example the production and distribution of food, may be as sensitive to smoke, particulate matter, and odors as residential or commercial establishments are, and so may need the protection conferred by excluding heavy industrial uses. A decision to separate the two types of activity is not an ‘obvious pretext’ for discrimination, as Parvati argues.”

Affirmed.

12-1954 Parvati Corp. v. City of Oak Forest

Appeal from the United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois, St. Eve, J., Posner, J.