After years of discord, drug rehab deal looms in Newport Beach

Posted by admin on January 24, 2009 under National | Comments are off for this article

Sourced from the OC Register.

To disdain of some, town’s largest operator of addiction-recovery housing about to ink pact with city.

By JEFF OVERLEY
THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

NEWPORT BEACH – Peace is about to break out in Newport Beach’s long-running war with drug rehab homes.

After years of legal combat, elected leaders on Tuesday are expected to ink a 25-year pact effectively ending hostilities with Sober Living by the Sea, the largest operator of addiction-recovery houses in town.

Among many provisions, Sober Living would agree to cap its operations, disperse its houses and subject its small, licensed homes to oversight from which they’re technically exempt under California law.

“No other city in the state has that protection right now,” said Dave Kiff, assistant city manager of Newport Beach, of the last clause.

While officials seem eager to declare a truce, many activists are far from ready to lay down their arms.

“These councilmen want out of this issue,” said activist Bob Rush, whose River Avenue home is near several rehab houses. “They want out of the problem, and they want the appearance of having done something for the community.”

Rehab homes have dotted the narrow streets of West Newport and the Balboa Peninsula for a quarter-century or more.

The area’s unique housing stock – duplex rentals right on the sand – proved perfect for rehab companies that emphasized the idyllic weather to attract clients and used the apartment-style units to benefit from housing laws that shield small recovery homes from government oversight.

Sober Living has been adept at profiting off the situation, parlaying what began as a six-person halfway house in the 1980s to what’s now a 200-bed network representing anywhere from one-third to one-half of recovery homes in Newport. (Counting the real number of rehab houses has proved difficult for the city.)

The agreement council members will review Tuesday stems from a lawsuit Sober Living filed challenging rehab home restrictions officials passed last year in response to community outcry over a perceived glut of addiction-treatment housing.

After a judge rendered a split decision on the legality of the city crackdown, both sides negotiated a compromise to avoid “having to go to court all the time,” said John Peloquin, a vice president of Sober Living’s parent company.

That compromise is “slanted to the side of the rehab operator,” Rush said.

For one, he said, the cap only applies to how many “occupied beds” Sober Living has at any given time. Nothing limits the company’s actual capacity, much less the number of homes it runs, he said.

Having more beds than bodies would be an inefficient business model, Peloquin said. “I wouldn’t put in more beds than I would need,” he said.

Activists also question how effective city enforcement will be, since officials don’t plan surprise inspections and will rely partly on company records when evaluating compliance.

“I don’t believe our city ever intends to enforce anything against this particular operator,” said Denys Oberman, leader of Concerned Citizens of Newport Beach, which last year filed – and ultimately dropped – a $250 million lawsuit against the city and several rehab companies over perceived damage to community character.

Sober Living would be taking a major risk if it breached the pact, Kiff said. Serious violations could result in court action, and if a judge sided with the city, the company could potentially have its right to operate revoked.

The dozen or so other rehab businesses in town are going through permit hearings under the new city law. Though some of the meetings have reportedly been raucous affairs, activists are promising an empty room at Tuesday’s hearing for Sober Living, since they see approval as a fait accompli.

“It’s going to make no difference” whether activists attend, said resident Lori Morris. “That agreement is done.”

Contact the writer: 714-445-6683 or joverley@ocregister.com