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Costa Mesa council rejects appeals for permits for 2 drug and alcohol treatment facilities

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A drug and alcohol treatment operator went 0-for-2 on Tuesday as Costa Mesa City Council members rejected permits for local facilities it runs.

On a pair of unanimous votes, the council upheld Planning Commission denials for permits for existing Northbound Treatment Services drug and alcohol treatment facilities serving as many as 26 residents at 125 and 131 E. Wilson St. and up to 24 people at 235 and 241 E. 18th St.

Though the facilities are state-licensed, Costa Mesa requires that they obtain conditional use permits because they have more than six residents and are in multifamily areas.

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They also must comply with the city’s rule that group homes, licensed alcohol and drug treatment facilities and sober-living homes be at least 650 feet from one another in residential areas.

Neither one meets that requirement, according to city staff. The Wilson Street addresses are about 365 feet down the street from a city-approved sober-living home, and those on 18th Street are about 230 feet from a state-licensed drug and alcohol treatment facility.

Council members said they didn’t hear anything Tuesday night that convinced them it was necessary to waive the rule in these cases.

“No evidence was presented that the existing supply of similar facilities in Costa Mesa is insufficient to provide individuals with a disability an equal opportunity to live in a residential setting,” Mayor Sandy Genis said. Recovering alcoholics and drug addicts are considered disabled under state and federal laws.

Garrett Prybylo — an attorney with the law firm Zfaty Burns who represented Northbound at Tuesday’s hearing — said the operator supplies a “useful and essential public service, providing a safe and sober environment so its residents can be reintegrated into the world and to the workforce.”

“At the end of the day, this is the only protected class subject to any ordinance in the city of Costa Mesa,” he said. “There are no other ordinances specifically being applied to protected classes under the Fair Housing Act.”

Councilwoman Katrina Foley said the city has many sober-living homes and addiction treatment facilities, including others Northbound operates.

“I don’t think there’s any shortage of supply, and I do think there’s support in the record for the denial,” she said.

Costa Mesa has approved 18 sober-living and group homes, according to its website. The city also has 101 state-licensed facilities.

The proliferation of sober-living homes and treatment and recovery facilities in local neighborhoods has become an increasingly heated topic in recent years.

Residents regularly blame such operations for increased crime and noise, snarled traffic, exacerbated parking problems and harm to their overall quality of life.

Also Tuesday, a permit appeal from RAW Recovery LLC for its sober-living home with up to 37 residents at 321 and 327 Cabrillo St. was withdrawn before the meeting.

That means the Planning Commission’s denial of permits for that facility stands, city officials said.

luke.money@latimes.com

Twitter @LukeMMoney

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