Yet Another Sober Living Ordinance On Tap Monday

 IT'S GOING TO BE AN INTERESTING NIGHT
The Costa Mesa Planning Commission will meet Monday, March 27, 2017, beginning at 6:00 p.m. in City Council Chambers at City Hall to consider three Public Hearings, among them is a new ordinance directed at Group Homes and Sober Living Facilities.  You can read the full agenda report HERE.

CLAIRE FLYNN TO BE HONORED
One of the highlights for me is the recognition of Claire Flynn, former Assistant Development Services Director who left the City after nearly three decades last year.  She was a dedicated, very professional employee and her skills are certainly missed.

EXTENDING SADDLEBACK CHURCH CUP
Let's get the non-controversial items out of the way first.  Public Hearing #1, HERE, is a conditional use permit requested by Saddleback Church to continue operations at 1901 Newport Boulevard.  The church has been operating at that locations, in four venues within that location, for the past two years under a previously-issued Conditional Use Permit (CUP), which expired December 8, 2016.  They re-applied at the end of October.  Concerns over parking and traffic patterns were expressed so field observations were necessary before considering granting this CUP.  The staff has provided a lengthy staff report outlining the measures that will be taken to resolve those issues and are recommending approval of the requested CUP.

A NEW DOG DAY CARE ON W.16TH STREET
Public Hearing #2, HERE, is a request for a Conditional Use Permit for a dog day care and boarding facility at 704 W. 16th Street.  The staff report outlines the conditions being imposed on the operator and recommends approval.

STREAMLINING SOBER LIVING APPLICATIONS
Which brings us to the final item on the agenda, Public Hearing #3, HERE, the Code Amendment that will modify the Municipal Code with regard to group homes, state licensed facilities and boardinghouses in Multiple-Family and Single-Family Residential zones and Planned Development zones.  The revisions are intended to streamline the City's review of these applications and provide additional protections for residents of these facilities.  I won't attempt to replicate the 39 page staff report, but do find some of the changes fascinating.

STAGGERING NUMBERS!
This new ordinance affects the review process for two previously-issued ordinances - 14-13 and 15-11.  The numbers in the revised ordinance are staggering.  There is a red-line version available in the staff report, shown as Attachment 1 and beginning on handwritten page 8.  Here are some examples:

1. In the 38 months from January, 2014 to March, 2017 the City experienced an increase of 84% in the number of sober living facilities and residential care facilities in the multiple-family residential zones.  Those new facilities resulted in an increase of 715 beds - a 113% increase.  As of March 1, 2017 the City had a total of 115 residential care facilities in the multi-family residential zones, with an estimated 1,347 bed to treat drug and alcohol addiction.
2. Currently, in all zones, it is estimated that the City of Costa Mesa has 1,748 alcohol and drug recovery beds, divided as follows: 63 state licensed residential facilities/certified alcohol and drug programs in residential zones with six or fewer occupants, providing 352 beds; 19 state licensed facilities with seven or more occupants providing 269 beds; 97 unlicensed sober living homes in all residential zones, providing 1,127 beds; included in those homes are 10 homes that have been issued Special Use Permits providing 60 beds; and 1 approved CUP application per the MFR Ordinance providing 11 beds.
3. Costa Mesa is currently home to almost 29% of the state licensed residential drug and alcohol treatment facilities in Orange County although the city represents 3.6% of the County's population.

WHAT IT ADDRESSES
This new ordinance will address the following issues:

• Reasonable Accommodation
• Review process for group homes in multi-family zones containing seven or more residents
• Review process for group homes in single-family and multi-family zones containing six or fewer residents
• Eviction/involuntary termination of residency
• Compliance with Vehicle Code
• Required Separation between Group Homes 

EXPECTING A CROWD...
Needless to say, this hearing may be a long one, and will likely generate significant public interest.  I have no idea how many people will show up for this one, to offer their opinions on what appears to be an effort to make it easier for sober living homes to receive permits to operate without public knowledge.  Pitchforks and torches comes to mind...

GONNA BE FUN
So, Monday night will be interesting.  I suspect we will see a crowd in Council Chambers.  We'll report on it after... come see in person, watch live on Costa Mesa TV or the live stream on the city website.

Yellowstone Recovery Accommodation Denied, And More

 MARATHON WITHIN A MARATHON
At the Costa Mesa Planning Commission meeting that lasted seven hours and fifteen minutes last night, four hours and fifteen minutes were spent on one issue alone - the request from Yellowstone Recovery for a "Reasonable Accommodation" for their facility at 3132 Boston Way.  More on that in a minute.

POTPOURRI REPORT
Chairman Jim Fitzpatrick pulled Item #2 from the Consent Calendar for discussion, so Consultant Staffer Jerry Guarrancino provided a short report on several items previously requested by the Planning Commission.  They included a report on the Smartphone app, Costa Mesa Connect; Nuisance Abatement Ordinance, Sober Living Ordinances for R2 and R3 Zones and Motel Inspection Data.  You can read all the numbers in the staff report, HERE.

SOBECA PLAN
Resident, former councilman and recent council candidate Jay Humphrey - who remains engaged in municipal activities - pulled Item #3, the SOBECA Traffic and Parking study, for discussion.   Actually, he wanted to express appreciation for the information, but bemoaned the lack of similar studies for other vital parts of the City - the Westside and Eastside, for example.

SCOOTER SALES TO BE RESCHEDULED
The first Public Hearing, on a Scooter Sales Store, was taken off the calendar and will be re-noticed if it is ever brought back.

YELLOWSTONE RECOVERY APPEAL
Then, at 6:40 p.m., came the elephant in the room - Public Hearing Item #2, the request for Reasonable Accommodation by Yellowstone Recovery for their facility at 3132 Boston Way.  The staff recommendation was to uphold the denial of the request by resolution.  Four hours and fifteen minutes later, including breaks, the commission voted to uphold the denial.

THE YELLOWSTONE CASE
During the hearing - which was conducted more like a trial than a normal hearing, including having many of the speakers sworn-in - the lawyer (Steven Polin) for the appellant (Yellowstone Recovery) presented his "case" for approval of the appeal and, thus, permit Yellowstone to continue to operate a sober living home with 15 residents at 3132 Boston Way.  The maximum permitted is 6.  Before it began, though, Polin suggested that Commissioner Timothy Sesler had a conflict because he was part of a team put together by then-mayor Jim Righeimer to evaluate the Newport Beach sober living situation and Yellowstone had been part of that discussion.  He indicated that Sesler should recuse himself.  That prompted a short break while Deputy City Attorney Yolanda Summerhill consulted with Sesler.  The result was that Sesler - also a lawyer - felt he could be an objective and fair participant and the commissioners agreed.  He stayed on the dais.

ADDICTS AND SUPPORTERS SPOKE
Polin's presentation, in which he attempted to convince the commissioners that Yellowstone perhaps should be "grandfathered-in", included short speeches by a dozen current and former residents of the recovery home, plus two other supporters of the program - resident Grant McNiff (shown) and Richard Dumont of the Recovery Network.

RECOVERED AND RECOVERING
The comments by the recovered and recovering addicts were quite moving in many cases.  Each was sworn-in by the clerk before they spoke. Based on the body language of the crowd and reaction and comments by the commissioners, there were few unsympathetic people in the auditorium last night.

 HONEY

Owner of the home, "Honey" Thames, stepped up to address the commission to convince them of the value of the operation, and the value of having more than 6 residents at the site.  She failed to do so.

GERLI LED THE CITY TEAM
Elena Gerli led the presentation by the City Staff.  She presented a lengthy slide show, outlining the elements of the issue.  She outlined the law,  and described the request by Yellowstone.  Those slides are shown here.

 CONSULTANT
Additionally, the City also presented testimony by Patricia Shields, a lawyer, recovering addict and consultant, who apparently was being paid $2,500 by the City for consultative support on this issue.  She, in response to questions by Greg Palmer of the City Attorney's office, established her credentials, gave a work history and then provided an assessment of the situation.  The short version is that she, and other highly qualified persons who provided opinions, felt there was nothing demonstrated by Yellowstone that having 15 persons in a recovery home was necessary to the recovery when compared to the permitted 6 residents.

TUCKER, TOO
Code Enforcement officer Mike Tucker also aided in the presentation by providing a history of this home, which apparently dates back fifteen years at that site.  He discussed the history of calls for service at the site, including the most recent one which resulted in this action when a resident apparently jumped off the roof of the building into the swimming pool.

NEIGHBORS ANGRY
In addition, several members of the public, including some from the neighborhood in which the house is located, spoke to address the issue.  It turns out that the Yellowstone Recovery home is but one of four (or five-it was unclear) additional similar facilities close to it.


DENIAL UPHELD
After all was said and done, and following what certainly sounded like a threat of legal action by Polin near the end which upset at least one member of the commission - Colin McCarthy - the commission voted to uphold the denial of the request for Reasonable Accommodation and directed staff to work with Yellowstone to come up with a transition plan for the reduction of residents in the facility.  I suspect nobody left in the room expected that was going to go smoothly, but the commission gave the staff one month to work out a plan.

SADDLEBACK CHURCH AT 1901 NEWPORT BLVD.
Finally, at 10:55, the commission took a short break before moving to the next item and reconvened at 11:05 to discuss the proposal from Saddleback Church to occupy several spaces at the building at 1901 Newport Boulevard.  This issue has come before the commission previously and the last time was sent back for more work on a traffic and parking plan.

POTENTIAL BIG PARKING PROBLEMS
It turns out that was a good idea, because several issues were uncovered - like a shared parking arrangement with The Triangle to provide overflow employee parking for that venue.  Several people spoke to this issue, including the Pastor of the church, Moses Camacho and the minister from the adjacent United Methodist Church, Reverend Julie Elkins, whose church is diminishing and could close down if it looses members due to parking and traffic problems.  The discussion went on and on and it looked like Fitzpatrick and McCarthy were going to pull the plug on this request, but when the vote was taken it ended up 3-2, with Fitzpatrick and McCarthy voting NO, at 12:10 a.m.!

3-UNITS ON VIOLA PLACE APPROVED
Public Hearing #4 is the three-unit development on a skinny little lot on Viola Place.  After a half hour of discussion the commission voted 5-0 to approve the project at 12:40 am.

5-UNITS ON ORANGE AVENUE ALSO APPROVED
The final item on the agenda, Public Hearing #5, was a similar kind of development - 5-units on another skinny lot at 2661 Orange Avenue.  The developer made an excellent, and rapid, presentation and - even though this fell under the Small Lot Ordinance and had variances -  the commission voted, 5-0, to move the project forward.  An exhausted commission adjourned the meeting to the January 12, 2015 meeting.

Sober Living Home Issues Top Agenda

LAST MEETING OF THE YEAR
The Costa Mesa Planning Commission, "guided" by Chairman Jim Fitzpatrick, meets for their final time this year on Monday, December 8, 2014 with an agenda that is certain to provide some controversy.  You can read it HERE.  The meeting begins at 6:00 p.m. in City Council Chambers at City Hall.  Although they will only hold one meeting this month, this highest paid Planning Commission in Orange County will get their full $400 per month stipend... Merry Christmas, guys!

CONSENT CALENDAR ISSUES
Right off the bat the Consent Calendar - items that theoretically can be considered without discussion with one vote - includes a couple items that might generate a request for separate review/discussion before the vote.

ORDINANCE POTPOURRI
#2, HERE, is an update on the smart phone app, Costa Mesa Connect and Nuisance Abatement Ordinance, Sober Living Ordinance(s) for R2 and R3 zones and recent motel inspection data.  Lots of information in there that will probably get some attention from members of the public.

SOBECA TRAFFIC AND PARKING
#3, HERE, is the discussion of the SOBECA Traffic and Parking Study.  According to the staff report, there's now too much of the former and not enough of the latter.  Attendees might wish to hear this issue expanded upon, too.

SCOOTER SALES REMOVED FROM AGENDA
There are five (5) public hearings on the agenda, but the first one, HERE, involving Scooter Sales, has been removed for later consideration.

LAWSUIT CENTRAL!
Public Hearing #2, HERE, should be very interesting.  It's the denial of a request for Reasonable Accommodation by Yellowstone Recovery.  Lawyers all over town are smiling...

BIG CHURCH EXPANDS TO COSTA MESA
Public Hearing #3, HERE, is the request by Saddleback Church to use a big chunk of space in the building at 1901 Newport Blvd. for church meeting and administrative purposes.  That 207 page staff report provides enough information and conditions for the staff to recommend approval.

SMALL DEVELOPMENT
Public Hearing #4, HERE, is a 3-unit detached residential development at 1817 Viola Place that includes a handful of variances, administrative adjustments and minor modifications.  I thought our Small Lot Ordinance was supposed to do away with all that stuff!

AND ANOTHER ONE...
The final Public Hearing, #5, HERE, is for a 5-unit residential development at 2661 Orange Avenue.  This, also, includes variances and divides the 19,800 square foot lot into five (5) fee simple lots.

NEXT MEETING NEXT YEAR
The Planning Commission will next meet on January 12, 2015 to begin another year of rampant development throughout the city.

More Development And A Familiar Name

LAST PLANNING COMMISSION MEETING BEFORE THE ELECTION
Later this evening the Costa Mesa Planning Commission, under the leadership of the dynamic (tongue-in-cheek) chairman, Jim Fitzpatrick - shown here hard at work at the recent Public Safety BBQ -  will take a break from their political activism, commentary-writing, sign arrangement and the like,  and get back to work earning the highest pay of any Planning Commission in the county.  They will meet for the final time until after the election next month.  The agenda for the meeting, which begins at 6:00 p.m. in City Council Chambers, can be found HERE.

VACATE BANNING PLACE
On the Consent Calendar there's an item of interest, HERE.  It's the vacation of a strip of land at the end of Pacific Avenue adjacent to Fairview Park.  It's unlikely that it will get any discussion - that's the purpose of the Consent Calendar, after all.  I just thought you'd like to see the staff report.

SADDLEBACK CHURCH
There are four (4) Public Hearings on the agenda.  The first one, HERE, is Conditional Use Permit for the establishement of a church in part of the building at 1901 Newport Blvd.  The applicant has requested this item be continued - again - until the meeting on November 10, 2014.

320 E. 18TH STREET
Public Hearing #2, HERE, is an application to develop a two-unit residential site at 320 East 18th Street - a small lot subdivision adjacent to the Lighthouse Community Church, where the Kline School was once located by SCEL Properties.

119 CECIL PLACE
Public Hearing #3, HERE, is for another two-unit development, also by SCEL Properties, at 119 Cecil Place.

A FAMILIAR NAME
Public Hearing #4, HERE, is for a Conditional Use Permit for a 24-hour/7 days a week health club (Planet Fitness) in the Kmart Plaza at 2200 Harbor Blvd.  Of note for me was the name of the applicant - Bill Fancher of Fancher Development Services.  You may recall that when the Charter Committee was being formed more than a year ago, one of the persons selected was this self-same Bill Fancher.  At the time Mayor Jim Righiemer made a big deal of not knowing who he was - or, at least he feigned not knowing.  Why does it come as no surprise to find that Mr. Fancher is a developer?  Helping to craft a developer-friendly Charter?  Just sayin'...  And, here he is before the Planning Commission.... "Friends in High Places" and all that...

The Rest Of The Story...

MORE PLANNING COMMISSION REPORTS
In addition to the Group Home Ordinance, discussed at length in my previous post, the Costa Mesa Planning Commission discussed several other items at the meeting Monday night.  The video of the meeting can be viewed HERE.  Use the "jump to" feature - just click on the subject listed below the image window and you'll "jump" right to the beginning.

REVOKING RECYCLE CUP
Public Hearing #2, HERE, is the revocation of the the Conditional Use Permit (CUP) for the recycle center operated by RePlanet, LLC at the Stater Bros. market parking lot at 2180 Newport Boulevard.  This hearing required some of the participants to be sworn-in and the proceeding was conducted by attorney Greg Palmer, a litigator for The City.

TESTIMONY FROM NEIGHBORS
Senior Planner Mel Lee and neighbors adjacent to the site, Deanne Hemmens, Christy Turley and Tyler Turley were all sworn-in.  The item took around 90 minutes to hear, during which Palmer outlined the many violations of the CUP and the neighbors each took their turns being interviewed for the record.  Stories of transients leaving all manner of human waste near the yards, loud noise, violation of hours of operation and many other items were discussed.

HEAVY-HANDED
The commission, mainly Chairman Jim Fitzpatrick and Colin McCarthy, were especially heavy-handed with the operators and with the management of the adjacent Stater Bros. Store.  Fitzpatrick, in particular, went overboard with his criticism of the folks presenting before him, including representative from RePlanet and Stater Bros.  The result was the CUP was revoked on a 4-0 vote.

E-CIGARETTE BRIEFING
Then, for some inexplicable reason, Fitzpatrick moved the brief discussion of E-cigarettes up on the agenda ahead of Public Hearing #3.  Stacey Reynolds from the State Department of Education gave a very brief presentation on the issue and described the astronomical growth of the e-cigarette business in the past year.  At the end, despite the observation by Assistant Development Services Director Claire Flynn that such an action might require city council authorization to spend the staff time, Fitzpatrick said he and McCarthy would brainstorm with staffer Mel Lee to discuss a possible ordinance.  The item was just received and filed.

FITZY BLASTS SANITARY DISTRICT, AGAIN
Just before 10:30 Public Hearing #3,  HERE, the 18-unit development on Hamilton Street was launched.  The short version is - this is an excellent project, fully parked with more open space than is required.  The property could support 24 units - the builder is proposing 18.  This looked like it was a slam-dunk - the only modification was on the setbacks, and those variations were small.  However, Fitzpatrick chose this time to launch into one of his tirades about the Costa Mesa Sanitary District - that organization that tossed him out because he held his seat on the board illegally.  He suggested that he would propose to future developers, including this one, that they consider alternative trash haulers instead of having CR&R - the contract hauler - pick up the trash.  He is a small, vindictive little man.  The item moved forward on a 4-0 vote.

CHURCH DIDN'T BOW TO FITZY
Public Hearing #4, HERE, looked like an easy one.  Ha!  One just never knows.  Just before 11:00 p.m. the discussion of the move of a satellite church - part of the Saddleback Church organization - from Huntington Beach to facilities at 1901 Newport Boulevard.  This is adjacent to the busiest intersection in the City - the terminus of the 55 Freeway into Newport Boulevard at 19th Street near Harbor Boulevard.  The architect for the project and the pastor for the church spoke to the issue.  The commissioners had problems with a few factors - parking, traffic management, "ministries"  and event scheduling.  Plus, Fitzpatrick kept mentioning a problem he had with a "church over by the airport", as though it was somehow relevant to this issue - it wasn't.  One peculiar statement he made was that "nobody had reached out to me" on this subject.  I guess he feels slighted if an applicant processes his paperwork through the staff and appears to meet all the requirements but doesn't call him to have his ring kissed before the item is heard.  The message was loud and clear - HE is the Chairman and HE expects some deference from applicants - or else!  The upshot of all this, at just before 11:30, Fitzpatrick recommended that the item be "continued", for re-consideration at their meeting near the end of October.  It was strange, indeed.

Group Home Ordinance Unveiled Monday

FIRST ITEM ON LONG AGENDA
On Monday, September 22, 2014, during its regularly-scheduled meeting beginning at 6:00 p.m. in City Council Chambers the Costa Mesa Planning Commission - led by ever-alert and dynamic Chairman Jim Fitzpatrick -  will introduce the long-awaited Group Home Ordinance as Public Hearing #1 on the agenda.  You can read the entire agenda HERE.

JERRY MOVIN' ON UP...
The 137-page staff report for the new ordinance and related attachments, including a 20-page draft of the ordinance, may be found HERE.  Bradley Zint's Daily Pilot coverage of this subject in anticipation of the meeting Monday is HERE.   It appears that the staff report will be presented to the Planning Commission by Jerry Guarrancino, who until last week was Acting Assistant Development Services Director, filling in for Claire Flynn during her recent absence.  Guarrancino, a highly-paid consultant, has shifted up to the Executive Offices in the 5th floor bunker at City Hall, where he will continue to work for the City in a management role dealing specifically with the facilities defined in this new proposed ordinance.

ZINT'S ARTICLE
Zint's article describes, in part, some of the more controversial elements of the plans to rein-in rehab homes throughout the City.  He mentions TBON (Take Back Our Neighborhoods), a grass-roots organization that has been addressing this issue with the City Council and Planning Commission for months.  He also mentions the discrepancy between the City's official number of such establishments and those provided by TBON - which is nearly double the City number.  I suspect the discussion Monday night - which will likely begin very shortly after the Planning Commission meeting begins - will be VERY interesting, indeed.  I suspect we will see more than a few residents eager to speak on this subject.  We'll be there and will report back later that night.

REVOKING RECYCLING C.U.P.?
Public Hearing #2, HERE, is the recommendation to the Planning Commission by staff to revoke the conditional use permit for RePlanet, LLC for their operation of a recycling facility in the parking lot of the Stater Bros. Market at 2180 Newport Boulevard.  The staff report contains a long list of violations plus correspondence from nearby neighbors of the facility.

18 UNITS ON HAMILTON STREET
Public Hearing #3, HERE,  is the Planning Application and Tentative Tract Map for an 18-unit residential development at 650 Hamilton Street.  It's going to be interesting to hear the rationale for the creation of this housing development. 

SADDLEBACK CHURCH MOVING IN...
Public Hearing #4, HERE, is a request for occupancy of a portion of 1901 Newport by Saddleback Church of Costa Mesa.  The staff is recommending approval for the use at that site - at the busiest intersection in Costa Mesa, the terminus of the 55 Freeway at 19th Street/Newport Boulevard.

COULD BE A LONG NIGHT...

It's going to be a long evening at City Hall tomorrow.  See you there.