Dana Cody, Esq.Executive Director

Catherine W. Short, Esq.

Legal Director

Mary RileyAdministrative Director

Allison K. Aranda, Esq.Senior Staff Counsel

Board of Directors

John R. Streett, Esq.Chairman

Dana Cody, Esq.

Marcella Tyler Ketelhut

Terry L. Thompson, Esq.

Colette Wilson, Esq.

Anthony E. Wynne, JD

Advisory Board

The Hon. Steve BaldwinSan Diego, California

The Rev. Michael R. Carey, OP, JDColorado

Daniel Cathcart, Esq.Los Angeles, California

The Hon. William P. ClarkPaso Robles, California

Raymond Dennehy, PhD.San Francisco, California

The Rev. Joseph D. Fessio, SJSan Francisco, California

The Hon. Ray Haynes Riverside, California

James Hirsen, Esq.  Riverside, California

The Hon. Howard KaloogianLos Angeles, California

David Llewellyn, Esq.Sacramento, California 

Anne J. O’Connor, Esq.New Jersey

Charles E. Rice, Esq.  South Bend, Indiana

Ben Stein, Esq.West Hollywood, California

Andrew Zepeda, Esq.Beverly Hills, California

Northern California (Administration)P.O. Box 2105Napa, California 94558(707) 224–6675

Southern California

June 30, 2014

City of Huntsville Zoning AdministrationATTN: Jim McGuffey, Board of Adjustment Jeff Pearce, Zoning Enforcement Officer308 Fountain CircleHuntsville, Alabama 35804256-564-8008 (voice)256-564-8031 (fax)jim.mcguffey@huntsvilleal.govjeffrey.pearce@huntsvilleal.govSent via email

RE: Alabama Women’s Center for Reproductive Alternatives

Dear Sirs:

By way of introduction, the Life Legal Defense Foundation (LLDF) is a not-for-profit organization based in Napa, California. As part of LLDF’s mission, we give innocent and helpless human beings of any age, particularly unborn children and their mothers, a trained and committed defense against the threat of death, and to support their advocates in the nation’s courtrooms. We are sending this letter on behalf of Reverend James Henderson and other Huntsville residents. We do not charge our clients for our services.

It has come to our attention that your agency recently sent a letter to the Alabama Department of Public Health concerning the zoning of a piece of land located at 4831 Sparkman Drive in the City of Huntsville. In that letter you state that in 1998 the Board of Zoning Adjustment (hereafter the Board) granted a use variance to allow a medical clinic at the location. We believe that your letter is vague and may be misconstrued by the Alabama Department of Public Health (ADPH) and therefore requires further clarification on your part.

The Board of Zoning Adjustment Minutes for the 1998 hearing are clear that the variance granted to the 4831 Sparkman Drive property was extremely limited. In fact, the Board and then owner, Robert Wells, discussed the use of the property at length. The Board questioned why only a portion of the large tract was being used for a medical clinic. The Board further stated that if the variance was granted it would be for the specific use requested, which was a medical clinic operated by the Huntsville Hospital. The Board clearly articulated that “Another office can’t be built nor any subdividing will be allowed, unless it is brought back before this Board.”

LIFE: AT THE HEART OF THE LAW

The Alabama Women’s Wellness Center (AWWC) leased the 4831 Sparkman Drive facility in 2013 and operates an OBGYN office at the location. In May 2014, Dalton Johnson, clinic director for Alabama Women’s Center for Reproductive Alternatives (AWCRA) currently located at 612 Madison Street in the City of Huntsville, purchased the Sparkman property. On May 19, 2014, Johnson filed for a change in license with the ADPH to move the AWCRA from its location on Madison Street to the 4831 Sparkman Drive facility. This type of dual occupancy is exactly what the Board expressly disapproved of during the 1998 hearing and prohibited when it granted the limited variance.

In fact, a clear reading of the minutes of the 1998 hearing indicate that the Board only granted a variance to operate a medical clinic operated by the Huntsville Hospital Board. A new variance should have been obtained once the hospital no longer operated the medical clinic and either sold or leased to another person and/or agency.

Even if the Board determines that the property is zoned for a medical clinic, it is not zoned for an abortion center, which is classified as an ambulatory surgical center under Alabama law, which is exactly what Johnson desires to operate at the location. There is a significant difference between a medical clinic and an abortion center. The impact of an abortion center on the surrounding neighborhood is much different and requires notification to those most closely affected by its presence and an opportunity to voice objection. Residents of the community strongly oppose the presence of an abortion center in their neighborhood.

Additionally, there are two schools nearby, Ed White Middle School and Highlands Elementary School. It is not in the best interest of the community to locate an abortion center in close proximity to young children. AWCRA has a sordid history of violent pro-abortion protestors shouting profanity and physically harming peaceful sidewalk counselors who regularly pray outside the abortion center. When the Board granted the medical clinic variance in 1998, I doubt that it contemplated this type of environmental impact, which is precisely why a new variance is necessary.

Should Johnson apply for a variance to operate an abortion center at the Sparkman facility, we strongly urge your agency to deny such request. The AWCRA is wrought with controversy and has no place in a residential neighborhood near local schools. The abortion clinic’s medical director, abortionist Ramon Lopez, has been serving weekend jail time for the past six months related to his previous criminal convictions. Abortionist Yashica Robinson-White was recently indicted on Medicaid fraud and selling birth control devices made in another country. Both abortionists are on the verge of losing their licenses to practice medicine altogether.

We are formally requesting that you put this matter on the agenda for the July Board of Zoning Adjustment Meeting to fully discuss the parameters of the initial variance granted to the 4831 Sparkman Drive property in 1998.

We also urge your department to send a clarifying letter to the ADPH so that they may make an informed decision about whether to grant Johnson a license to operate an abortion center at the Sparkman location. A copy of this letter is being sent to the ADPH. Thank you for your consideration of this request. We will continue to report on your agency’s actions related to this matter. We look forward to your prompt response to this urgent matter.

LIFE: AT THE HEART OF THE LAWLLDF.org

Very truly yours,

Allison K. Aranda, Senior Staff CounselLife Legal Defense FoundationPO Box 890685Temecula, CA 92589Phone – 951-296-2835Fax – 951-541-2711akaranda@lldf.org

LIFE: AT THE HEART OF THE LAWLLDF.org