City to reveal rehab plan

Newport Beach will unveil a proposed ordinance to curtail the spread of drug and alcohol rehabilitation homes in the city later this week, officials said Monday.

But local activists say they are already wary the proposed new rules won’t live up to their expectations.

“While I’m hopeful, the real proof of how serious Newport’s public officials are in resolving over-concentration [of rehab homes] will be seen in how much of a rehab rollback will be proposed in the initial draft,” said rehab home activist Bob Rush.

The proposed new rules are the culmination of an ongoing battle between the city and Balboa Peninsula residents who say their neighborhood is overrun with more than 100 rehab homes that cause problems with traffic, noise and garbage. Rehab home activists say they hope a new ordinance will aim to eliminate many of the homes with limits on how close the homes can be to each other and how many people can live in one home. Activists say they hope the city tightens regulations on permits for the facilities.

“No grandfathering of existing rehab houses. We’ve got too many down here,” said longtime peninsula resident Ken Kuhlmann. “They need to go to all these people within one year and require within 12 months that they go to the city and sign up for a business license. If not, then they’re leaving.”

Local rehab home operators have been largely silent on the issue, but John Peloquin, vice president of CRC Health Group, which owns the Newport Beach-based rehabilitation center Sober Living by the Sea, said he thinks more community dialogue, not a new ordinance, is the answer to problems on the peninsula.

“I don’t think a discriminatory ordinance is the answer,” Peloquin said. “We’re willing to work with residents and do whatever is appropriate.”

Sober Living by the Sea has been based in Newport Beach for 21 years. The program is one of numerous rehabilitation homes that houses people recovering from drug and alcohol addictions at houses and duplexes on Balboa Peninsula.

A few solely profit-driven rehab operators give reputable programs such as Sober Living by the Sea a bad name, Peloquin said. Sober Living by the Sea offers comprehensive treatment and counseling and has a strict “good neighbor” policy that keeps noise, trash and traffic down to a minimum, he said.

The city will post the proposed ordinance on the city website by Friday and discuss the issue at a City Council study session Dec. 11, said Dave Kiff, Newport Beach assistant city manager.

“This is the first time City Council has really discussed a new ordinance on group homes,” Kiff said.

The proposal, written with the help of independent law firm Richards, Watson & Gershon, “will take the best and most legally defensible stance and wrap it into a comprehensible ordinance,” Kiff said.

The city could adopt a new ordinance for rehab homes as early as January, which would go into effect sometime in February, Kiff said.

“The firm that’s preparing the new ordinances will hopefully address deficiencies in our current ordinances,” Mayor Steve Rosansky said.

BRIANNA BAILEY may be reached at (714) 966-4625 or at brianna.bailey@latimes.com.