In 2003, the City of Kyle changed its zoning and subdivision ordinances for new single-family residences. The revised ordinances increased the minimum lot and home sizes for such residences. NAACP and the home builders’ association challenged city’s ordinance increasing the minimum lot and home sizes and requiring full masonry exteriors for new single-family residences as causing home prices to rise, thereby disparately impacting minorities. In fact, the home builders’ association commissioned a study that concluded the ordinances disproportionately affected minorities. The fifth Circuit Court of Appeals concluded that neither group hads standing under either an associational or organizational theory. The Court said, “(T)here is no evidence showing that a specific member of the NAACP has been unable to purchase a residence in [the city] as a result of the ordinances.” Nor, said the Court, could either group establish injury in fact.
NAACP v. City of Kyle, Texas, 2010 WL 4518436 (5th Cir. Ct. App.11/11/2010).
The opinion can be accessed at: http://www.ca5.uscourts.gov/opinions/pub/09/09-50505-CV0.wpd.pdf
