GARDEN GROVE : Center for Mentally Ill to Fight Eviction

Lawyers for a mental health center that serves about 50 mentally ill homeless people said they plan to file a lawsuit in Superior Court today to fight eviction by the city.

Robert J. Cohen, executive director of the Legal Aid Society of Orange County, alleged in an interview Thursday that city officials are violating the federal Disabilities Act and state law by taking discriminatory action against mentally ill people.

The city gave its blessing to the Mental Health Assn. of Orange County Activity Center in January, 1992, but withdrew permits 12 months later after a series of “orchestrated complaints” from neighbors, Cohen charged.

After a stormy public hearing, the City Council last Jan. 5 refused to issue a conditional-use permit that would allow the center to continue operating at 10672 Chapman Ave. Council members told mental health officials that they must find a new site or face eviction in three months.

Council members said at the time that they would help the private, nonprofit Mental Health Assn. find a more suitable location for the center.

City Manager George Tindall said Thursday that a new location has been identified. But mental health officials are balking, claiming that breaking a five-year lease and relocating would cost about $200,000.

Tindall said the city is not about to spend $200,000 to relocate the center. He said the city’s action to evict the center was strictly a land-use issue. The center, which continues to operate, is incompatible with the surrounding neighborhood, he said.

Residents living near the center have complained that center clients roam their neighborhood and cause them to feel threatened.

The center, which began operating in February, 1992, provides counseling, classes and programs for the mentally ill homeless. It also offers lunches and shower and laundry services. Most of the clients are transported by vans from shelters in Orange and Stanton.

The center’s aim is to keep psychiatrically disabled homeless people off the streets, said John A. Garrett, executive director of the Mental Health Assn. of Orange County.

Garrett said an employee in the city’s Planning Department had assured mental health officials that a conditional-use permit was not needed to operate the center on property zoned for office-professional use.

City staff members, however, said mental health officials misrepresented the center as an office and counseling center and not a day-care facility, which would require a conditional-use permit.

Cohen contends that the Mental Health Assn. carefully listed all its intended activities before moving in and was told at the time that a conditional-use permit was not needed.

Garrett previously told city officials that the center’s clients are schizophrenic or manic-depressive, or have severe depressions, but are no more prone to violence than people in general.