Town files lawsuit to shut down sober house

The Town of Grafton is seeking an injunction to stop Forest Recovery WI from operating a sober house on Lake Shore Road.

The town recently filed a lawsuit in Ozaukee County Circuit Court against the company, which is based in Twin Lakes, and the Leon E. Linton and Marina L. Linton Revocable Trust, which owns the property being used for the sober house.

The town alleges that Forest Recovery has been operating a commercial business in violation of the town’s zoning code, which only allows single-family residential uses and “essential services” to support these homes in the R-1 district where the house at 598 Lake Shore Rd. is located.

Forest Recovery is leasing the house for its sober home, according to the lawsuit.

“Forest Recovery’s use of the property is a commercial use since the property is part of Forest Recovery’s for-profit services and programming,” the lawsuit states.

The suit notes that the town sent a cease-and-desist letter to both the Linton’s trust and Forest Recovery alerting them to the zoning code violation but they have ignored the letter and “have undertaken a continuous and knowing violation of the town’s ordinances.”

Before the sober house began operating, the suit states, neither the trust nor Forest Recovery sought approval for the use from the town, which only became aware of it after concerned citizens approached officials.

The town building inspector has inspected the property and confirmed it is being used by Forest Recovery, the lawsuit states.

The suit notes that the town attempted to meet with Forest Recovery after learning about its operation and scheduled a meeting for 8:30 a.m. April 29. At 8:32 a.m. that day, representatives of Forest Recovery informed the town by email that they would not attend the meeting.

The town is seeking both a temporary and a permanent injunction against Forest Recovery, a fine of between $50 and $500 a day for each day the zoning code violations continue and court costs.  

No court date has been set.

The sober house has been a concern for officials after neighbors learned about it from a deliveryman who told one man he had dropped off 11 mattresses at the home, Town Chairman Lester Bartel said this summer.

More than 125 neighbors attended the May 13 Town Board meeting to oppose the use, Bartel said.

“Their concerns are a rotating group of people who are in different stages of recovery from addiction,” he said, as well as the use of residential property for a business.

In a May 12 letter to the town, Forest Recovery WI attorney Brian Randall said the eight-acre property and 4,080-square-foot house would accommodate as many as eight adults who are required to remain sober during their stay. No sex offenders or violent criminal offenders will be allowed to live at the house.

The town’s zoning code defines a single-family dwelling as a building designed or occupied for use by one family, Randall’s letter states, and family is defined as a group of people living as a single household entity.

The eight people living at the facility will “live together as a single housekeeping entity,” the letter states. “The Forest’s use at the property is a permitted use under the town code because it squarely meets the definition of ‘dwelling, single family’ as well as the definitions of the individual words therein,” Randall wrote.

He also noted that people in recovery are recognized as people with disabilities and federal law prohibits local government from using zoning or land use regulations to discriminate against them.