Two drug- and alcohol-recovery homes proposed in Corona del Mar will likely be the first test for Newport Beach’s moratorium on new group homes.
City officials adopted the moratorium in April to block new group homes from opening while they hash out regulations to govern the homes.
Residents, mainly from West Newport and the Balboa Peninsula, have complained some group homes are bad neighbors that contribute to litter secondhand smoke.
Group homes are a category that includes boarding houses and care facilities for the disabled, but the main source of discussion — and, according to residents, problems — in Newport has been drug- and alcohol-treatment homes and sober-living houses.
Tighter regulations proposed for group homes will be discussed by the city’s planning commission tonight, and it’s not clear how soon they’ll be approved. But the city is embarking on its first direct challenge by trying to block two drug- and alcohol-recovery homes from opening.
Miramar Health, a company that has operated an outpatient eating-disorder clinic in Newport Beach, is seeking to open two small drug-recovery homes side by side in the 400 block of Dahlia Avenue.
Cities have discretion over larger facilities, but state law requires that drug-recovery homes licensed by the state Department of Alcohol and Drug Programs and housing six or fewer clients must be treated like any single-family home.
Miramar is applying for two homes to serve six or fewer people, according to city officials, who handled required fire inspections for the properties. In a letter to state officials last week, the city asked that Miramar’s two proposed facilities be considered one larger, integrated facility — something that can be blocked under the moratorium.
“This one is the same property owner, same management company, the application I saw includes the same schedule for both house,” Newport Beach Assistant City Manager Dave Kiff said. “They’re all going to yoga at the same time, they’re all visiting the dietitian at the same time — it’s clearly being operated as one facility.”
Miramar Health owner Derik Brian referred questions to Dr. Lauren Gavshon, the company’s director of operations. A message left for Gavshon was not returned Wednesday.
Kiff said while Brian has said he’ll operate the homes separately, the city questions that.
