RICHMOND, Va. (WRIC) – A nonprofit filed a federal fair housing lawsuit against Powhatan County accusing its board of supervisors of denying a permit to allow people with addiction to live in a recovery home “on discriminatory and retaliatory grounds.”

Tri-Hope Life Ministries, a nonprofit based in Chesterfield County that describes itself as “a faith-based life coaching ministry,” filed the lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia in Richmond, the organization announced on March 21.

“Powhatan County, Virginia strictly enforces an ordinance that is discriminatory on its face, requiring members of a protected class—those with the disability of drug or alcohol addiction—to seek the County’s permission to live together in a recovery home,” the lawsuit alleges.

Residents began moving into the home — located on a 3.49-acre piece of property on Stonehenge Farm Road — last February, according to the suit. The property, the lawsuit states, is being leased to Tri-Hope and is zoned as “agricultural” under a county ordinance.

“We were thrilled to find such a perfect home in Powhatan to locate one of our recovery homes. The sense of peace of the surroundings is great for our residents as they rebuild their lives,” Joel Hughes, Tri-Hope’s director, said in a statement.

In October 2023, the county’s board of supervisors sent a notice of violation listing three zoning ordinances that were being violated and that the board had “received complaints from the public,” according to the lawsuit.

The notice from the board, the lawsuit states, cited ordinances that included failing to comply with a standard requirement, occupying property without first obtaining needed permits and the definition of “halfway house.”

The county insisted that Tri-Hope apply for a conditional use permit to allow its residents to live there under the county’s ordinance. The lawsuit also said Tri-Hope searched the county’s ordinances for ones addressing recovery homes but did not find any.

Doubting that the ordinance’s definition of a halfway house is lawful or applies to the recovery home, at the county’s request, Tri-Hope prepared and paid a $1,500 application fee for a conditional use permit to operate a residential treatment center, the lawsuit alleges.

A public meeting at Tri-Hope Stonehenge was held on Jan. 4, the lawsuit states. “Between 55 and 70 people attended the meeting with approximately 10% of those in attendance strongly expressing displeasure that the recovery home was in the vicinity,” the lawsuit alleges.

The county’s planning commission then recommended denying the application for three reasons, the lawsuit claims, including questions about how feasible the project would be at the location and that the building department would need to approve a change of use.

The commission also noted that Tri-Hope did not provide rules for the operation of the facility. The lawsuit claims that Tri-Hope never received a request for the rules and procedures for the recovery home and an offer to provide them “was not accepted.”

At the planning commission’s meeting on Jan. 18, staff said they recommended denying the permit because they were concerned the recovery home was operating without the county’s knowledge, they were accounting for neighbors’ concerns and they claimed information was provided too slowly or not at all, per the lawsuit.

During the meeting, members of the public voiced concerns over the recovery home being near them. The comments, the lawsuit alleges, “indicated that they opposed the granting of the CUP because they harbored prejudices towards the residents or potential residents and did not wish for proximity between those residents and their own homes.”

On Jan. 19, the attorney for Tri-Hope sent a letter to the Powhatan County attorney asserting that the recovery home “is a protected class under the Fair Housing Act” and requested the county either accept the application or grant an accommodation under the Fair Housing Act.

“Upon information and belief, the County Attorney did not timely convey Tri-Hope’s Jan. 19, 2024, reasonable accommodation request and subsequent emails and related offers to the Board of Supervisors, if at all,” the lawsuit alleges.

At the Powhatan County Board of Supervisors public hearing on Feb. 26, Tri-Hope presented the issue and told the board that the ordinance cited by the county “was discriminatory on its face, as requiring a group of people to go through a CUP process which others did not solely on their status as a protected class violates the Fair Housing Act,” according to the suit.

After the presentation, per the lawsuit, a board member said they didn’t appreciate that Tri-Hope “got an attorney threatening us with a lawsuit if we don’t grant your CUP.” People who commented during the public hearing, the lawsuit states, raised concerns over public safety.

Tri-Hope and the county attorney exchanged emails between Feb. 27 and March 12 after the board denied the permit request. Per the lawsuit, the county attorney said issues with the effort included, among other points, that Tri-Hope did not apply for a permit under the ordinances at issue before moving to Powhatan and issues with the building permit, code and septic system.

The nonprofit’s lawsuit alleges it agreed to every condition the county recommended to address concerns, but claims the county has never approved a permit for any such recovery home, “effectively depriving anyone in the protected class from living in a recovery home anywhere in the County.”

The lawsuit alleges that of the 24 types of use districts within the county’s zoning ordinance, none identify a halfway house as a permitted use and that five districts identify a halfway house as a conditional use.

The federal lawsuit alleges the county is violating state and federal fair housing laws, the Americans with Disabilities Act and is retaliating under the Fair Housing Act.

The chairman of Powhatan County’s Board of Supervisors did not immediately respond to a request for comment about the suit.

Among other requests, the lawsuit seeks an order to block Powhatan’s board of supervisors from interfering with Tri-Hope’s use of the recovery home.

Tri-Hope is also asking for an order declaring that the board’s requirement that residents wanting to live in a recovery home must first receive a conditional use permit while others don’t is unlawful under state and federal law.

It also wants declaratory judgments that the county’s definition of halfway house, as applied to the conditional zoning requirements, “is facially discriminatory and unlawful” and that the board “has illegally discriminated against Plaintiffs by arbitrarily and capriciously applying its zoning and building codes,” interfering with their equal opportunity to use and live in a house “on the basis of handicap, in violation of the Fair Housing Act and the Americans with Disabilities Act.”