1999 AGN AUG 03 I26 - Laserfiche WebLink

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CITY OF COLTON AGENDA REPORT FOR COUNCIL MEETING OF August 3, 1999 Honorable Mayor and City Council PROVAL: Henry T. Garcia, City Manager FROM: City Attorney SUBJECT: Resolution recommending the State Legislature pass legislation permitting greater local control over community care facilities, group homes and other congregate care facilities DATE: August 3, 1999 BACKGROUND: In recent years, Federal and State legislation has severely limited the ability of California cities to regulate community care facilities, group homes and other congregate care living arrangements. Moreover, both Federal and California case law also prohibit cities from limiting single family occupancies to blood relatives. At the same time, legislatively adopted social policy favoring integration of special needs groups such as the handicapped, mentally ill, recovering drug addicts and alcoholics into local residential settings, instead of incarceration or institutionalization, has created an enormous demand for such housing. Although California law provides regulatory and licensing statutes for some congregate living arrangements, other facilities are not regulated by the state at all. Typically, these facilities are operated by religious groups, non-profit corporations or associations and clean -and -sober living organizations, but a few are operated by individuals whose only interest appears to be the disability checks received by their resident clients. Further, state law prohibits the application of local zoning laws to facilities with six or fewer residents and federal law places significant restrictions on local control of most facilities, even when the facilities contain seven or more residents or are unregulated by the state. Cities have expressed concerns that both licensed and unlicensed facilities may severely impact the neighborhoods in which they are located. Cities have argued that unusually high traffic, parking and noise impacts, coupled with the general incompatibility of the use, lead to the impairment of the integrity of residential neighborhoods. Moreover, because of the lack of local control over licensed facilities and the lack of state regulations and local authority over unlicensed facilities, cities have very little ability to deal with the impacts. Currently, the California Legislature is considering the following measures to provide cities with additional local control over such facilities: RVPUB\MXM\522682 Item #26