Ruling on group homes may be postponed until August

A Thursday hearing on new rules for group homes in Newport Beach likely will be postponed until August, city officials said Monday. They need more time to make changes and do legal research on the proposed rules, which could require larger group homes to apply for city permits and outlaw “over-concentration” of such facilities.

Newport Beach residents have been pressuring the city for several years to crack down on group homes, which they say have changed the character of their neighborhoods with noise, litter, traffic and crime. City officials are now responding more aggressively, planning stepped-up enforcement of all city codes and working on new rules.

— Alicia Robinson