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For first time, Costa Mesa council to hear appeal for sober-living home permit

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Costa Mesa City Council members are set to decide Tuesday whether a Westside sober-living home should be granted the permit it needs to remain open or should have its petition denied under city rules restricting how close such facilities can be to one another.

The home at 2152 Raleigh Ave. is owned by Costa Mesa resident Gregg Ohlhaver and has operated for more than a decade under the name Keystone Sober Living.

Ohlhaver is asking the council to overturn the city Planning Commission’s denial of his request for a special use permit to continue operating the property as a sober-living home with six or fewer residents.

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This would be the first time the council has heard an appeal on a sober-living home permit.

In an appeal letter submitted shortly after the commission’s unanimous vote in November, Ohlhaver wrote that he’s seeking recognition of his “long-standing, unchanged business, which obviously cannot be a new threat to the character of the neighborhood because it has been a part of that neighborhood for so many years.”

The commission said it denied Ohlhaver’s permit request because his property runs afoul of a city ordinance requiring that sober-living homes with six or fewer occupants in single-family neighborhoods be at least 650 feet apart.

Two state-licensed alcohol and drug abuse treatment facilities on Governor Street are within 650 feet of Ohlhaver’s property, according to a city staff report.

Though Ohlhaver’s operation predates those facilities, the Planning Commission determined they have precedence because they are licensed by the state.

City officials have said the goal of the buffer rule is to prevent the clustering of such facilities in residential areas.

Ohlhaver has said he believes the city’s regulations are illegal and discriminatory against recovering alcoholics and drug addicts, who are considered disabled under state and federal law.

Some operators have raised similar allegations in lawsuits challenging the ordinance.

Last month, the City Council adopted new rules applying to operators of local group and sober-living homes. They include regulations aimed at increasing transparency and preventing people who were evicted from such facilities from becoming homeless.

Council members also said that they and the Planning Commission can deviate from the 650-foot buffer requirement as long as doing so doesn’t create an over-concentration of similar facilities in a specific area.

The council Tuesday will have the option of granting Ohlhaver his permit, upholding the Planning Commission’s decision or sending the application back to the commission for further review.

The council meeting starts at 6 p.m. at City Hall, 77 Fair Drive.

luke.money@latimes.com

Twitter @LukeMMoney

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