2 Costa Mesa sober-living homes seek permits to increase capacity

Sober-living homes are back on the agenda in Costa Mesa as members of the city Planning Commission prepare to decide whether to OK permits for two Eastside facilities.

Commissioners are scheduled to vote Monday on whether to approve conditional use permits for all-male sober-living facilities at 2041 Tustin Ave. and 165 E. Wilson St. Both are operated by Summit Coastal Living.

The properties need the permits to comply with a city ordinance approved in November.

However, the applicant, Keith Randle, has requested that the matter be continued, a city official said Friday, so it’s possible the commission won’t take up the requests until a later date.

Randle, who owns both properties, is seeking permission to allow up to 11 occupants, including a live-in house manager, in two existing condominium units on the Wilson Street property and as many as 13 occupants, including one manager, in three existing units on Tustin.

Currently, neither property has more than six occupants, according to city spokesman Tony Dodero.

Costa Mesa staff members are recommending that both properties be allowed to continue as sober-living homes, but in a smaller capacity.

Staff recommends that each be allowed to have no more than seven occupants, plus one in-house manager, “to preserve the residential character of the neighborhood and to protect the health and well-being of occupants by providing favorable living environments for recovering addicts to be successful in their recovery.”

A handful of people sent emails to planning commissioners urging them to reject the permit requests outright.

“The beauty of our neighborhoods is our people, and if you continue to allow these homes to come in, you are bringing in people who do not care about our neighborhood,” resident Sherri Fenn wrote. “They have no vested interest in keeping things clean or not saying or doing things that might be offensive to the people living next door.”

Sober-living homes have been a sore spot for residents and officials in Costa Mesa for years.

Many have argued that such facilities — which generally house recovering drug and alcohol addicts who are considered disabled under state and federal law — have been disruptive to their neighborhoods and contributed to undue amounts of noise, parking problems and secondhand cigarette smoke, among other ill effects.

As of last month, there were 159 sober-living facilities with beds in Costa Mesa, Dodero said.

According to city planning documents, there have been no code enforcement investigations of complaints about the Tustin property since Summit Coastal Living began operating the facility in September 2013.

Code enforcement complaints were received for the Wilson property in 2014, but those were “under a different operator and those complaints were addressed and closed prior to Summit Coastal Living commencing operation,” city documents state. Summit Coastal Living took over operations there in October 2014.

To combat proliferation of sober-living homes, City Council members approved an ordinance in 2014 requiring such facilities with more than six occupants in single-family neighborhoods to obtain special permits and be at least 650 feet from one another.

Last fall, the council approved another ordinance that created similar rules for sober-living homes in multifamily-zoned areas, such as the properties on Tustin and Wilson.

The first ordinance was hit with two separate lawsuits, each claiming the restrictions discriminated against recovering drug and alcohol addicts.

The plaintiff in one of those suits, Solid Landings Behavioral Health, settled its case with the city last month. It agreed to close its sober-living homes in the city and relocate its group counseling services to commercial and industrial areas by summer 2019.

The other lawsuit — filed by sober-living home operator Yellowstone Recovery and two other plaintiffs — is ongoing.

Monday’s Planning Commission meeting will begin at 6 p.m. at City Hall, 77 Fair Drive.