City makes good on threat

This corrects an earlier version of the story.

The city of Newport Beach is suing two businesses accused of operating unlicensed group homes in Newport Beach, seven months after the city declared a moratorium prohibiting their operation.

Pacific Shores Recovery owners Alice and Robert Conner, and Barry Saywitz, who has an interest in a partnership and the partnership owns several properties that have leases with Morningside Recovery, are named as defendants in the lawsuit.

The city, in addition to the lawsuit filed last week, expressed an intention to create ordinances that would make it harder for new group homes to start in Newport Beach.

“[This] is an important first step in protecting the moratorium,” Newport Beach Mayor Steve Rosansky stated in a news release. “Group home operators need to realize that the city is serious about protecting its rights.

“I expect the new ordinances to also improve our ability to reduce the adverse impacts associated with an over-concentration of group homes.”

Rosansky declined further comment during last night’s City Council meeting, saying he could not comment on pending litigation.

Efforts to reach Saywitz and the Conners were unsuccessful.

The City Council declared a moratorium on the expansion or development of any new transitory group homes in April, intending to lift the ban after it finalized new regulations restricting their operation.

Special legal counsel to the city James L. Markman said residents can expect a presentation of the proposed plans Dec. 11 and that the board intends to hold a public hearing on the proposal in the first week of January.

Until then, he said, the city intends to enforce its declared moratorium.

“No matter how you look at it, they shouldn’t have opened in the first place,” Markman said, referring to the group homes named in the suit. “We’re not going to condone it.”

The city also notified the operators and property owners of two other facilities, warning them that opening a group residence during the moratorium may result in similar lawsuits.

CHRIS CAESAR may be reached at (714) 966-4626 or at chris.caesar@latimes.com. MICHAEL MILLER may be reached at (714) 966-4617 or at michael.miller@latimes.com.