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Dvorak v. City of Bloomington9/23/2003
reasonably related to any inherent characteristics that distinguish these two classes.
This argument places a strained construction on Collins, which requires only that the "the disparate treatment accorded by the legislation," not the purposes of the legislation, "be reasonably related to the inherent characteristics which distinguish the unequally treated classes." Collins, 644 N.E.2d at 79; Boggs v. Tri-State Radiology, Inc., 730 N.E.2d 692, 696 (Ind. 2000) (considering whether special medical malpractice statute of limitations was reasonably related to the inherent characteristics distinguishing medical malpractice victims from other tort victims); McIntosh v. Melroe Co., 729 N.E.2d 973, 981 (Ind. 2000) (deciding whether the products liability statute of repose is reasonably related to the inherent characteristics that define the distinction); IHSAA, Inc., 694 N.E.2d at 240 (determining whether limited athletic eligibility is reasonably related to inherent distinctions distinguishing transfer students from other students). While it is the treatment, not the legislative purpose, which must be reasonably related to the inherent distinctions between the classes, the legislative purposes may be a factor considered in making this determination. See, e.g., Sims, 782 N.E.2d at 353-54.
We therefore find this appeal to present the following appellate issue: whether Dvorak has demonstrated either (1) that the ordinance's disparate treatment of two classes of persons is not reasonably related to their distinguishing inherent characteristics, or (2) that the preferential treatment accorded one of the classes is not uniformly applicable and equally available to all persons similarly situated.
As to the first issue, the disparate treatment provided by the ordinance is one of exclusion. Unlike households comprised of four or more adults related by blood, marriage or legal adoption, similar households comprised of four or more adults not so related are prohibited in single-family residential zones. Thus, the issue is whether this exclusion is reasonably related to the characteristic distinguishing these two classes-whether the members of a household are related by blood, marriage, or legal adoption. The answer is self-evident: limiting multiple-adult households in single family residential zones to families, and excluding non-families, is reasonably related to the difference between families and non-families. To put it another way, considering whether groups are or are not families is obviously related to determining whether to exclude them from districts zoned for family residential use.
In addition to claiming that the Bloomington ordinance violates the first prong of Collins, Dvorak also contends that it is invalid under the second Collins prong: whether the preferential treatment accorded one of the classes is uniformly applicable and equally available to all persons similarly situated. Dvorak argues that the ordinance permits some non-family groups, specifically four college students living together in a house previously occupied by four other students before the ordinance was enacted, to live in a single-family zone but denies this privilege to other similar groups unable to locate such a "grandfathered" house, contrary to the second prong of the Collins test.
This isolated occurrence is insubstantial and does not render the ordinance contrary to Section 23. As we observed in Collins:
Exact exclusion and inclusion is impractical in legislation. It is almost impossible to provide for every exceptional and imaginary case, and a legislature ought not to be required to do so at the risk of having its legislation declared void, even though appropriate a
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