Wisconsin Community Services, Inc. v. City of Milwaukee

In 1998, Wisconsin Community Services (WCS) (plaintiff), a nonprofit organization that provided mental-health services, applied for a special-use permit in the city of Milwaukee (defendant) to use a building in an area zoned as a local business district. Milwaukee’s city-development department denied WCS’s special-use-permit application, claiming that the presence of a mental-health clinic would decrease the neighborhood’s property value. WCS appealed to Milwaukee’s board of zoning appeals (BOZA). After a public hearing, BOZA denied WCS’s application, citing neighborhood residents’ concerns about WCS’s potentially harmful impact on neighboring businesses. WCS then sued the city in federal district court, alleging that BOZA had violated the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and the Rehabilitation Act (RA) by failing to modify its procedures for special-use permits. The district court required BOZA to specifically consider WCS’s ADA and RA claims. At the second BOZA hearing, an alderman complained that WCS would not pay taxes and expressed a preference for a taxpaying commercial tenant in the building. BOZA again denied WCS’s special-use-permit application. WCS again sued the city in federal district court, arguing that its existing space had become overcrowded and that it could not find another suitable location in the area. The district court granted partial summary judgment to WCS, holding that the ADA and RA required the city to accommodate WCS’s patients by allowing WCS to move to its desired location. The city appealed.