Establishing Reasonable Accommodation Policies & Procedures in Zoning & Land use Decisions

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ii. Will not fundamentally alter the City's approved Comprehensive Plan also commonly referred to as City Plane, and any approved neighborhood plan, all of which are on file in the Office of the City Clerk b. An undue financial or administrative burden analysis consists of i. Determining whether the request for a reasonable accommodation will cause significant and identifiable financial costs to the City. ii. A waiver or modification of zoning requirements generally is not an undue burden if it does not impose any concrete, identifiable financial cost(s) to the City. An example of a waiver would be where a person requests a reasonable accommodation to allow an exception to a setback requirement so that a wheelchair ramp may be constructed to gain access to his or her dwelling. c. A fundamental alteration analysis3 consists of- i. Based on analysis, a requested accommodation may be unreasonable if it would substantially change the nature of the zoning plan. ii. The analysis is based on a fact - specific, case -by -case analysis and determination. iii. The analysis takes into consideration the guidance from the U.S. Department of Justice and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services that "what is reasonable in one circumstance may not be reasonable in another ".' 2 The South Bend Common Council adopted Resolution No. 3657 -06 on November 13, 2006, which approved the Comprehensive Plan. 3 28 Code of Federal Regulations § 35.130(b)(7) requires a public entity to make reasonable modifications in policies, practices or procedures when the modifications are necessary to avoid discrimination on the basis of disability, unless the public entity can demonstrate that make the modifications would fundamentally alter the nature of the service, program, or activity. Wong v. Regents of the Univ. of Cal., 192 F. 3d 807 (1999) notes that the "issue of reasonableness depends on the individual circumstances of each case, (with) this determination requiring a fact - specific, individualized analysis of the disabled individual's circumstances..." See: "Joint Statement of the U.S. Department of Justice and the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, Group Homes, Local Land Use, and the Fair Housing Act", set forth in the Appendix. littt)://www.usdi.voy/crt/housingLIWI8 l.htm.