Rehab limits backed

The Newport Beach Planning Commission has voted to limit the number of recovering addicts the city’s largest rehabilitation home can house in Newport Beach.

The commission voted 6-1 late Thursday to pass the agreement.

Planning Commissioner Barry Eaton cast the dissenting vote on the commission’s recommendation for an agreement between the city and the rehabilitation home operator Sober Living by the Sea that would limit the number of beds the company can have in Newport Beach to 204 citywide, down from 238 in mid-2007. The company would be allowed to have 156 beds in the area on and around West Newport and Balboa Peninsula.

Eaton said he objected to the part of the agreement that would let Sober Living by the Sea put 48 additional beds in other parts of the city. The agreement would not require Sober Living by the Sea to notify residents that the company is setting up shop in their neighborhood.

“I thought we ought to have some sort of discretionary process for neighbors to notify them,” Eaton said.

Nothing in the agreement bars the city from letting people know Sober Living by the Sea could move in next door, Newport Beach Assistant City Manager Dave Kiff said.

“We’re not precluded from notifying folks, and I think it’s an idea worth discussing,” Kiff said.

Eaton also believed the city couldn’t definitively say that an additional 48 beds wouldn’t have any environmental impact.

The agreement between Sober Living by the Sea and Newport Beach also would bar the company from operating within 1,000 feet from elementary schools and some day-care facilities.

Some Newport residents believe that Sober Living by the Sea should have been forced to go through a public hearing process to obtain use permits for each of its homes instead of entering into an agreement with the city.

Under the terms of the agreement, Sober Living by the Sea would not be able to house or treat clients who are on parole.

The company would be able to operate out of only one building per block in the city, and it would have to limit where its clients can smoke cigarettes.

A key part of the deal would allow the city to control the number of smaller, state- licensed rehabilitation homes. State law bars cities from regulating these homes unless an operator voluntarily agrees.

The agreement will head to the Newport Beach City Council for final approval.

The council is likely to take up the issue in January or February.

BRIANNA BAILEY may be reached at (714) 966-4625 or at [email protected].