All in the Neighborhood : Limit to Board-and-Care Homes Sought by Residents of Upscale Coastal Area

On the surface, the sprawling ranch-style home at 32641 Mediterranean Drive blends nicely into the Monarch Bay Terrace neighborhood.

Strings of Christmas lights line the rooftops. Through a dense hedge and iron gates, one can get a glimpse of the sparkling waters of a swimming pool in the private courtyard. And, as is the case at nearly every other house in “the terrace,” the grounds radiate the grooming of an attentive gardener.

But what is a loving home for Dorothy Houser, 88, and Belle and Dave Slesh, 85 and 90, represents what has become a sticky problem for Monarch Bay Terrace.

To many of the local homeowners, the house is a commercial enterprise--one of three board-and-care homes operating in a four-block area--where monthly stays for residents start at $3,200 each.

Until this fall, the surrounding members of the Monarch Bay Terrace Homeowners Assn. accepted the homes, despite the fact that they violate neighborhood rules. But now, with the possibility of two more such homes, neighbors have petitioned city officials for help.

It is not simply another case of the not-in-my-back-yard syndrome, the neighbors argue, but more a matter of local control.

“The neighborhood believes enough is enough,” said Jan Pierson, whose Seven Seas Drive home is on the same street as one of the care homes. “Nobody is against board-and-care homes, and their owners have been good neighbors, but three or four of these homes in four blocks, or even six or eight blocks, doesn’t seem right.”

But when about 45 members of the community took their petition and their pleas to city officials this month, they discovered that neither the city nor the homeowners’ association could help. The state, which considers these homes residential-care facilities, regulates the homes.

City Atty. Jerry Patterson told the council and the neighborhood residents: “What the state has said in this area (is) with six or fewer occupants, the home is deemed a residential use. More than six occupants is considered a commercial operation.”

The matter has become another source of frustration for the City Council, which has spent the past year fighting in vain with the state over the rights to regulate neighborhoods. The council lost a court fight over an attempt to limit overcrowding in apartments and would not be able to initiate controls over board-and-care homes.

All the council can do is forward its concerns to state legislators, a promise it has made to residents.

“I don’t think anybody has a problem with board-and-care homes per se, but these are commercial operations in a residential area,” said councilman Mike Eggers. “The council has made it clear we did not want a high concentration of these homes in one neighborhood. But once again the city of Dana Point has control only until the state tells us it has the control, instead.”

Part of the problem is that the neighborhood’s design lends itself to board-and-care homes, said Ingrid McGuire, president of the homeowners’ association. Monarch Bay Terrace’s lower section, where the homes are located, was subdivided in 1962 when large lots were the rage.

Most of the homes are single story with four bedrooms, perfect for elderly people who need room but cannot climb up and down stairs, she said. They may be pricey--the average price of the 12 homes sold in the neighborhood in 1991 was $612,000--but an elderly care home can afford those costs.

And the area’s wide sidewalks and its proximity to town shopping areas are just what the state is looking for as a site for homes for the elderly, said Bill Jordan, the deputy director of the community care licensing division of the State Department of Social Services.

The state has worked purposely to keep cities from banning these homes from certain areas. They belong in a neighborhood setting, Jordan said.

“There is a serious state interest in having these facilities placed within a neighborhood community,” Jordan said. “That makes them non-institutional, more family-like, and provides access to community services.”

That is what Linda Humes, owner of two of the facilities in the neighborhood, was looking for in 1986 when she became involved in the elderly-care business. She bought her first home as a place to care for her late mother, who had been stricken with Alzheimer’s disease, and later purchased another.

“The business has worked out wonderfully for us,” Humes said. “We’re like a family here.”

Houser, a resident for four years, agrees. She has her own bedroom, a Christmas tree in the large living room and expansive blue-water views all the way to Catalina Island.

“Oh yes, I like it here very much,” Houser said, as others in the house nodded in agreement.

It is a sentiment well understood by others in the neighborhood who enjoy the amenities of coastal, hillside living as well. And they admit to a small appreciation for the existence of an elderly-care facility nearby, something they might need someday.

But not four or five or more, they say.

“People are concerned our neighborhood is being singled out,” McGuire said. “We don’t want to see any kind of proliferation.”