COSTA MESA : Council Denies Permit to Operate Recovery Center
The City Council this week denied Recovery Center’s request to operate a sober-living complex at 1110 Victoria St.
“There are certain things about the center that would give it the potential to have a negative impact on the neighborhood,” Councilwoman Sandra L. Genis said.
The action overturned a decision made April 10 by the Planning Commission to grant the center a conditional use permit.
Despite the council’s denial, Nancy Clark, executive director of Recovery Center, said she is determined to keep the program alive. “We will continue to operate as a sober-living facility,” she said. “We are being punished by the negative reputation that has been established by all the other poorly run so-called programs.”
The council acknowledged that it could not prevent the current residents of the 19-unit apartment complex from continuing to live there and from maintaining a sober environment. But it denied Clark the power to run substance abuse meetings on site, conduct random drug tests and enforce curfews.
Recovery Center does not own the property, but the owner supports the program.
The issue of allowing more rehabilitation centers in the city has been hotly contested.
Area residents have long complained that Costa Mesa has more than its share of mental health centers, soup kitchens and drug rehabilitation centers, and blame them for vagrancy and crime on the city’s west side.
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