Public hearing on group homes

After years of escalating complaints from residents and months of information gathering, Newport Beach officials today will hold their first public hearing on proposed new rules to govern group homes.

While the category of group homes includes various kinds of homes for the disabled, the biggest concern in Newport has been drug and alcohol recovery facilities and sober living homes. Some residents say the homes generate noise, litter and other nuisances.

City officials took up the issue in earnest in 2006 and recently placed a moratorium on group homes so they could hammer out new regulations.

The Newport Beach Planning Commission will first vet the rules, which will then go to the City Council.

The suggested rules would require larger group homes to apply for a city permit, and homes for six or fewer people that operate in conjunction with other facilities also would be subject to the rules. Getting a permit, in some cases, will mean going through a hearing process that gives residents a chance to voice their concerns.

Since 2004 the city has required a “federal exception permit,” but recovery home operators were able to avoid the process by saying they’d only open a home for six or fewer people. State law requires cities to allow such smaller homes.

They slipped through the cracks because city officials didn’t realize some of the homes would then apply for a state license to house more than six people, Newport Beach City Attorney Robin Clauson said.

Now they’re trying to fix that, but it’s not clear how widely pleasing the results will be. The residents who have clamored for action recently sent the city a letter asking for tougher rules, such as a requirement that group homes be 1,000 feet apart and at least that far from schools and parks.

And one operator of recovery homes, Sober Living By the Sea, plans to oppose the city’s changes. C. Edward Dilkes, an attorney for Sober Living, said many of residents’ complaints are unproven, and the city could address the remainder with stricter code enforcement.

“What’s happening now is that people are running around trying to adopt something that will look like the problem’s being addressed, and we don’t think it will have any impact at all,” Dilkes said.

The planning commission meets at 6:30 p.m. at 3300 Newport Blvd.