Group home changes posed

New drug and alcohol recovery homes in Newport Beach would have to go through public hearings and obtain city permits, under proposed new rules that tighten restrictions on all group homes.

Residents on the Balboa Peninsula and in West Newport have complained for several years that group homes, particularly for recovering drug addicts and alcoholics, have changed the character of their neighborhoods. The homes and their clients create traffic, noise and litter, residents have said.

The new regulations and a moratorium on new group homes are part of the city’s response. The City Council will get a first look at the proposed zoning code changes Tuesday, and they could vote as early as June.

Under the proposed rules, new group homes that house more than six people would have to apply for a permit, which could be appealed.

Also, group homes for six or fewer people that operate in conjunction with other homes — for example, if they share services — would be counted like larger facilities and would be subject to the same rules.

That change is important because state law requires that group homes for six or fewer people be treated like any residential home.

City Atty. Robin Clauson said some facilities have avoided applying for the city’s existing permit, called a federal exception permit, by opening several homes that each house six or fewer people.

City officials have said it’s hard to craft regulations that satisfy state and federal laws, which classify recovering addicts as disabled and protect them from discrimination.

The new rules wouldn’t prevent over-concentration by requiring a certain distance between group homes, and they wouldn’t affect existing group homes.

Clauson said if the new rules are approved, officials can work separately on a process of getting the existing homes to comply.

“We’re going to have to deal with it, in my mind, on a case-by-case basis, because we don’t know what businesses are or are not operating as integral facilities and would need to come in and get this permit,” she said.

The city also looked at short-term rental housing, which like some group homes have a transient population. Recommended changes for short-term rentals would help make property owners and managers more accountable when people have complaints about tenants.