New group-home law could go to court

Deirdre Newman

After a few revisions, the City Council approved a law regulating

group homes that gives the city more control.

The law, approved by the council Tuesday, limits different types

of group homes to certain residential neighborhoods. Group homes

serving seven or more people will have to apply for permits to

operate in residential neighborhoods. But now, the new law may face a

legal challenge from Steven Polin, a Washington, D.C., attorney hired

by the Southern California Recovery Center -- an umbrella group of

recovery homes in Southern California -- who claims the law is

illegal. The law is invalid because it restricts group homes of seven

or more people from single-family neighborhoods, which is

discriminatory, Polin said.

“The promise of the [Federal] Fair Housing Act is to guarantee

groups of unrelated disabled persons to reside in the dwelling of

their choice,” Polin said. “If they want to live in a single-family

neighborhood, that’s their right. It’s the same thing as saying, ‘We

don’t want black or Latino or Jewish or Latino families in our

neighborhoods.’ Just substitute disability for race, and that’s what

the problem is.”

The council first approved new standards for the treatment centers

in July, then approved revisions to those standards in August.

Under the new law, limited residential care facilities, which

serve six or fewer clients who are deemed handicapped by the federal

government, are allowed in any residential zone, including

single-family neighborhoods, because six or fewer people -- whether

they are related -- are considered a family under the city’s code.

General residential-care facilities, which serve seven or more

handicapped clients, are not allowed in single-family neighborhoods.

The outside counsel who helped the city draft its law, Jeff

Goldfarb, said he doesn’t believe the law is illegal.

“It is unfortunate for the citizens of Newport Beach that Mr.

Polin is misreading the ordinance,” Goldfarb said. “There is nothing

in the ordinance that in any way requires individuals to be related

to live together. That is an absolute misreading of the code. Case

law absolutely supports the regulations established by the city.”

Treatment facilities that help drug and alcohol addicts recover

require abstinence from these substances, and addicts in these homes

are protected by the federal government.

State law says treatment centers housing up to six people can’t be

regulated. Those serving seven or more people are protected by

housing-discrimination laws, so the city has only so much room to

maneuver.

In addition to the potential legal challenge, recovery homes face

continued controversy from residents as well.

“Do we want a community of alcoholics and drug addicts in our

midst?” asked Corona del Mar resident Robert Walchli. “This is our

community, not theirs.”

But Allen Pakcad, who lives in a treatment facility in the city,

said the area is the ideal place for recovery.

“Another good reason to be [here] is spirituality -- being near

the ocean -- for those who want a better life,” Pakcad said. “There’s

no compassion from people in the neighborhood.”

Gerry Marshall, president of Narconon Southern California, said he

felt the city is overreacting to issues that residents have raised

about noise and litter from the group homes.

“I think that the city is making an attempt to find a solution,

but [I] feel it’s an invented problem that doesn’t really exist,”

Marshall said. “State and federal laws and existing city ordinances

already handle the situations. There aren’t any situations that can’t

be handled by them.”

Councilman Dick Nichols, who cast the sole dissenting vote against

the law, said he felt it is too vague.

“I think it’s a little nebulous, and I’m not sure how we can

enforce it,” Nichols said. “I just don’t feel very good about it.”

With all the changes to the new law, Tuesday’s approval served as

a first reading, so it will have to be approved by the council again

to take effect.

* DEIRDRE NEWMAN covers government. She may be reached at (949)

574-4221 or by e-mail at [email protected].