Hearings delayed on 3 Costa Mesa sober-living homes’ permit appeals
The fate of three Westside sober-living homes is still up in the air after their owners pulled their requests for city permits from Monday’s Costa Mesa Planning Commission agenda.
The applications for special use permits for the properties — two on Joann Street and one on Raleigh Avenue — will instead be heard next month.
Huntington Beach resident Richard Perlin, who is seeking permits for the sober-living homes he owns and operates at 647 and 653 Joann St., requested that the commission hold off on hearing his applications.
Perlin said he spoke with a lawyer Monday and wants to have legal representation present when the commission takes up the matter.
“I’m appreciative of your time and circumstance, but I’ve got a lot on the line here as well,” he told the commission Monday.
Commissioners, somewhat begrudgingly, voted unanimously to continue the matter Nov. 14.
“Quite frankly, I’m a bit put out that the staff has put in their work, put the report together, we’ve put out notice, we’re all here, we’re ready to hear the item and now we have yet another one of these applicants saying we’re going to kick the can down the road and hear it in the future,” Commissioner Stephan Andranian said.
City staff previously denied Perlin’s permit requests, along with a separate petition by Costa Mesa resident Gregg Ohlhaver for a sober-living home at 2152 Raleigh Ave., because the residences were deemed too close to other drug and alcohol recovery or treatment facilities.
Perlin and Ohlhaver appealed the denials to the Planning Commission.
Ohlhaver asked the city before Monday’s meeting to remove his application from the agenda. In a phone interview, he said he asked to delay the item to Nov. 28 on the advice of an attorney.
The permit requests are the result of a city ordinance adopted in 2014 that requires sober-living homes with six or fewer occupants in single-family neighborhoods be at least 650 feet from one another.
Such facilities, which generally house recovering drug and alcohol addicts who are considered disabled under state and federal law, also are required to obtain special permits to operate.
In previous interviews, Perlin claimed the city’s ordinance usurps his property rights and Ohlhaver said he believes the regulations are illegal and discriminatory against recovering alcoholics and drug addicts.
Both Ohlhaver and Perlin said last week that they plan to pursue legal action if the Planning Commission denies their appeals.
Some sober-living home operators already have sued the city over the ordinance. One suit, filed by Yellowstone Recovery and two other plaintiffs, is continuing.
Costa Mesa officials and residents have in recent years raised concerns over the growing number of sober-living homes in the city. Some say they can disrupt neighborhoods and contribute to undue amounts of noise, parking problems and secondhand smoke, among other negative effects.
Costa Mesa has 83 state-licensed drug and alcohol facilities and 95 other facilities that are considered sober-living homes, city spokesman Tony Dodero said last week.
The 2014 ordinance and a subsequent one that created similar rules for sober-living homes in multifamily-zoned areas are meant to empower city staff to better document and regulate the homes, Dodero said.
Planning Commission Chairman Robert Dickson encouraged any sober-living home operators with pending permit applications to make sure they are prepared for when their turn comes to be heard.
“We have an extremely full calendar coming up, so I would encourage everybody to make sure that you are ready and that your hearing goes forward,” he said.
Twitter: @LukeMMoney
