City Council adopts sober-living program

Lolita Harper

COSTA MESA -- The City Council unanimously approved a program Monday

designed to give the city an additional tool to monitor sober-living

homes, saying it was a welcome addition considering previous problems

with errant clean-living houses.

The county certification program -- four years in the making -- was

developed by a multi-jurisdictional task force in hopes that it will help

officials more closely monitor sober-living facilities.

Some of the recommended guidelines outlined in the county’s program

include specific requirements regarding staff, admission, intake,

building and grounds, monitoring, review, and a “good neighbor” policy.

Although council members engaged in no discussion before the approval,

one industry representative spoke against the new program.

Dave Riggle, vice chairman of the Orange County Sober Living

Coalition, said he disagreed with the guidelines, adding that it was a

waste of taxpayer money. He said the 50 operators that make up his

coalition have set up their own guidelines in an effort to monitor

themselves.

“Sheriffs don’t know much about recovery, but they do know about jail,

and that’s where many drug and alcohol abusers end up,” Riggle said.

Under state law, sober-living homes that don’t offer medical treatment

and have six or fewer people on the premises are not required to carry

permits for operation.

Perry Valantine, Costa Mesa’s director of planning, said city

officials are anxious for the program to kick in.

Costa Mesa hosts 106 group homes -- a designation that includes foster

and elder-care facilities, sober-living homes and drug and alcohol

treatment centers -- according to a 2001 report.

Sober-living homes have been an especially sore spot for city

officials in recent years. Costa Mesa houses 21 sober-living homes, the

2001 report shows, all of which offer no medical treatment and are

therefore exempt from state licensing.

The Board of Supervisors approved the Orange County Adult Alcohol and

Drug Sober Living Facilities Certification Process in December, and it is

scheduled to take place in October, officials said.

The Costa Mesa Planning Commission wholeheartedly endorsed the

guidelines, saying the program would benefit everyone involved.Although

it is a county-sponsored program, cities would share the burden and

monitor their own sober-living homes. Data collected by city staffers

would be transferred to the Orange County Sheriff’s Department, where

additional positions have been created to administer the program.

The idea that the city would be required to monitor the homes pleased

city leaders, who said the city would otherwise not even know some of the

homes exist.