Costa Mesa is accepting sober-living home applications

Costa Mesa City Hall recently began accepting applications for sober-living and group homes to allow the facilities to legally operate in multifamily-zoned neighborhoods.

The homes, which generally house recovering drug and alcohol addicts who are considered disabled under state and federal law, will be allowed to remain in multifamily neighborhoods, provided that they obtain special permits to do so and are at least 650 feet from one another.

The permits have been mandatory after the City Council’s adoption of an ordinance requiring them in November.

Two types of permits are available — one for non-state-licensed facilities housing six or fewer people, and another for facilities, with and without state licenses, with seven or more people.

To obtain a permit, operators need to provide a variety of materials, including a copy of the facility’s house rules, intake procedures and relapse policy. Some of the operators will also need to provide live scan reports of people in contact with the recovering residents, such as house managers or counselors.

The city’s developmental services director or a designee is in charge of approving or denying applications.

“Since this is a new program, we will run into some unforeseen questions and we will adjust accordingly,” city spokesman Tony Dodero noted Monday in an announcement about the application period, which began Dec. 17.

Last year, the City Council approved a similar ordinance that regulated group and sober-living homes in single-family neighborhoods. That ordinance faced discrimination lawsuits that, until recently, had received rulings in the city’s favor in a lower federal court.

The case took a turn earlier this month, however, after two federal appellate judges put a stay on City Hall’s enforcement of its law for the foreseeable future. The judges’ decision, which remains in place until the lawsuits are finalized, effectively disallowed City Hall from collecting or enforcing sober-living operator permits for single-family neighborhoods.

That ruling, however, did not affect Costa Mesa’s enforcement of the ordinance for multifamily zones, a system that, so far, hasn’t been legally challenged.

Costa Mesa is considered a popular city destination for sober-living companies to operate in — much to the chagrin of many residents, who contend that the homes contribute to a transient population, traffic and excessive noise in their neighborhoods.

Recent City Hall estimates point to at least 150 sober-living facilities throughout the city. About 100 are reportedly in multifamily zones.