Few sober-living homes apply for permit as deadline nears

For scores of sober-living homes in Costa Mesa, the clock is ticking on acquiring a new first-come, first-served permit that will allow them to continue operating as places for drug and alcohol recovery.

At City Hall, however, it appears that few operators of the homes have applied.

A 90-day countdown began Jan. 8, but of the estimated 60 sober-living homes that must fill out permit applications or face potential closure proceedings, 11 have done so.

Of those, nearly half are from the same operator, according to city officials.

The countdown ends April 8.

The permits, approved under a City Council ordinance last fall, institute new standards for sober-living homes in single-family neighborhoods.

Significant among those is a requirement that the homes be at least 650 feet from one another. This effort to prevent the homes’ proliferation is expected to force out some clustered-together sober-living facilities.

Homes that apply for the permits have up to two years to comply with the new standards, which include having a live-in manager and proving they have “good neighbor” policies in place.

Costa Mesa officials have attempted to get the word out to operators of the need to apply, said Jerry Guarracino, an assistant director in the city’s Community Improvement Division.

The problem is, Guarracino said, the city doesn’t know where all homes are.

Sober-living homes are nonetheless “going to be subject to code enforcement action if they don’t apply during the enrollment period,” he added. “That’s important for them to know.”

Costa Mesa contains 175 sober-living facilities — one of every four in Orange County — according to City Hall estimates. Of those, 46 have state licenses.

City attorneys are working on a second ordinance that will address those in neighborhoods zoned for multifamily units.

Sober-living facilities have a long been an issue for Costa Mesa residents, who contend that they bring problems into their neighborhoods, including a transient population with no local ties, parking woes and secondhand smoke that wafts into yards.

Costa Mesa’s law has been legally challenged but has withstood some initial scrutiny.

Solid Landings Behavioral Health, which operates several homes in Costa Mesa, filed a federal lawsuit last year, calling it discriminatory against recovering addicts, a disabled and protected class under the Americans with Disabilities Act.

In January, a federal judge dismissed the lawsuit but gave Solid Landings a chance to amend its case. It has since filed again.