Group 'Sober Living' Homes To Balance Need With The Law

SAN JUAN CAPISTRANO, CA — On Tuesday, the Orange County supervisors approved an ordinance regulating group homes in unincorporated parts of the county. According Supervisor Don Wagner's ordinance, group home operators would now be required to submit applications, obtain ministerial permits and enforce a “good neighbor policy” among other mandates.

Group homes often act as unlicensed sober-living facilities, generating an increase in second-hand smoke and noise and creating parking problems in neighborhoods, according to county officials.

The new ordinance updates the county's zoning codes to better define group homes, sober-living facilities, as well as boarding houses.

Operators will now have to provide officials with more information about their operation.

Limitations of occupants will be enforced, allowing for only six or fewer residents to live within single-family residential districts.

Group home operators will be required to have an on-site house manager around the clock, and residents must be "actively participating in recovery programs," according to a staff report.

Other restrictions will also be enforced, the Supes said.

Sober-living homes in unincorporated parts of the county cannot be located with 650 feet of another such home or a state-licensed or certified drug-and-alcohol recovery treatment facility.

The law also prohibits alcohol and non-prescription drug use and makes residents comply with sex-offender registration requirements.

Guests will also be prohibited from getting drunk or high on site.

Costa Mesa Mayor Katrina Foley implored the supervisors to include several other regulations that would make the county's ordinance more closely mirror Costa Mesa's law.

Foley called for penalties for group home operators who "broker clients from out of state," and to provide residents with "eviction protections" and make operators provide evicted tenants transportation back home or to another facility.

Supervisor Don Wagner, who held a series of town halls on the issues and sponsored the ordinance as a result, said he appreciated the city's recommendations and suggested that county officials consider changes down the line.

Wagner pushed to "move forward with the ordinance before us today," telling his colleagues "it protects the neighbors in our communities who are out there concerned about the changing nature of their neighborhoods."

Wagner said he was pleased that part of the ordinance recognizes the importance of valid sober-living facilities and encourages the operators who are doing business the right way.

"There are men and women in our communities who are trying to put their lives back together again," Wagner said. "The men and women who are trying to do that deserve our support. The homes trying to do that deserve our support. This ordinance provides that support."

"We've been grappling with the group homes... for some time now," Board Chairwoman Lisa Bartlett said. "We found a balance that has legal weight behind us."