CYPRESS : Ordinance Targets Care Facilities
The City Council has passed an ordinance allowing community care facilities to operate in residential neighborhoods, subject to council review.
The action was taken in response to a request by College Health Enterprises of Cerritos. Don Gilligan of College Health asked the council in November for permission to run an adolescent care facility at 8542 Sumner Place. Such facilities were not allowed in residential areas, said Planning Director Chris Eynon.
An adult care facility had operated previously at the site, when the area was part of an unincorporated portion of Orange County.
The new ordinance gives the City Council the authority to review each application and set conditions before a facility is approved. Gilligan now may apply for a conditional use permit and go through the review process.
Plans call for the facility to house as many as 26 adolescents with behavioral or learning problems, Gilligan said. Many suffer from depression or abuse.
“A lot of the kids just aren’t ready to go home,†he said. The residents, up to 18 years of age, will have around-the-clock care and supervision.
However, he said, it is not considered a “lock down unit,†meaning residents will be able to leave the premises and will attend schools in the area, he said.
![Los Angeles, CA - May 19: Carlos Vargas, left, and Paulina Rubio, members of the harm reduction team from Homeless Outreach Program Integrated Care Systems [HOPICS], a leading homeless services and housing agency, look for drug addicts to help and pass out supplies at a homeless RV encampment along 77th St. in South Los Angeles Friday, May 19, 2023. The team hands out syringes, fentanyl test strips, overdose reversal nose spray and medication to prevent overdoses, infection and disease transmission, including the HIV virus. Fenanyl is particularly insidious because it can be found in all other drugs, especially meth and heroin. The handouts are also meant to reduce infection through broken pipes, which can cut users mouths and open them to infection. . (Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times)](https://ca-times.brightspotcdn.com/dims4/default/bc99ba0/2147483647/strip/true/crop/3900x2608+0+34/resize/1024x685!/format/webp/quality/75/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fcalifornia-times-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fe9%2F77%2F4b8bd35d4881a3edec6b945b143b%2F1298639-me-soaring-fentanyl-deaths-24-1-ajs.jpg)
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