The Capistrano Dispatch
As part of The Capistrano Dispatch’s coverage of the San Juan Capistrano City Council election, we asked each of the eight candidates five questions about local issues. In the editions of The Dispatch leading up to the Nov. 8 election, we’ve published their answers in the order their names will appear on the ballot.
For our final question, we asked:
The proliferation of mismanaged sober living facilities in San Juan Capistrano has negatively impacted the quality of life of some of the city’s residents. How would you change the way the city addresses and regulates such facilities?
District 1:
Sergio Farias, Small Business Owner
Farias said while he likes the idea of sober living homes, he doesn’t feel they’ve been executed properly in the area.
“I’ve seen firsthand what they do to communities and neighborhoods—they create a transient population that doesn’t have investment in their community like the homeowners do,” Farias said. “I think we need to do something about our country’s and our city’s addiction problem.”
Farias said the issue of mismanaged sober living facilities needs to be examined at the state level, but until that happens, the city needs to express its opposition to the current situation.
“As a city, we should lobby against sober living homes as they’re currently being used,” he said. “I think we also need to separate the sober living homes that are only there for profit.”
Nathan Banda, Businessman/City of San Juan Capistrano Commissioner
Banda said regulating sober living homes is a hard subject to address at the city level. He noted that residents’ concerns over mismanaged sober living facilities are valid, and said preserving their quality of life—and their kids’ quality of life—is important to him.
Banda gave credit to Senator Pat Bates and Assemblyman Bill Brough for the work they’re doing at the state level to address the issue.
“It’s really a state issue—there’s nothing more we can really do on a local level,” Banda said. “I know Huntington Beach has poured $10 million into it because they have the money. We don’t have that money.
“We need to be mindful and not get ourselves into more litigation,” Banda added. “We just can’t keep affording these lawsuits.”
District 5:
Larry Kramer, Retired Submarine Captain
“For people who do want to get sober from drugs and alcohol, I think it’s important to have those kinds of facilities,” Kramer said of sober living homes. “But it seems like a lot of them are getting mismanaged and they’re just moneymakers.”
Kramer said changes in regulation need to be made at the state and federal level. He added that more deputies and code enforcement officers are needed in order to respond to criminal acts and code violations on a real-time basis.
Kramer said he has written a letter to the OC Grand Jury, asking them to take a look at the issue.
“I’m very sympathetic to people,” Kramer said. “It’s just a very difficult one to crack right now, and I’m hoping that our legislatures can help us out.”
Jim Schneider, Professional Geologist/Professor
Schneider said without a law preventing a homeowner from renting out their property out as a sober living facility, it’s their option to do so. However, he does feel that the number of homes in the city could be capped.
Schneider said he would also like to see limitations implemented on traffic to and from facilities from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. so that vans aren’t “showing up at all hours of the day.”
“If you have a business in San Juan Capistrano, you’re not supposed to have deliveries at your home address from FedEx or anybody else at certain times of day,” Schneider said. “So the limitation would be similar to that.”
Schneider said the city should also be talking with nearby city leaders to work on the problem collaboratively.
Mechelle Lawrence Adams, Director, Historic Mission
Lawrence Adams said the city needs “to let the federal government set the lead, because it’s an ADA issue and a human rights issue.”
At the city level, she said work needs to be done to “regulate secondary impacts,” like making sure “residents know who to call when their quality of life is impacted.”
“We need to be mindful that we don’t disrespect people who are suffering from addiction or are recovering, but we also need to make sure we protect the quality of life of the people living in these neighborhoods,” she said.
Lawrence Adams said San Juan shouldn’t go solo on creating new regulations because it could expose the city to more litigation.
“That money would be better served to fully fund code enforcement officers and communication with our residents,” she said.
Ronda Mottl, Media Executive
Mottl said she feels “very strongly” about sober living homes—they’re “helpful,” but “very transient in nature.”
“It’s a way for people to help pay their mortgage and so forth, but it’s not fair to the residents who work so hard to live where they live and pay their property taxes,” Mottl said. “Those residents probably wouldn’t have lived there if they knew they were moving next to a sober home facility.”
Mottl said there needs to be increased regulation, like “a limit on how many people can live in a household.” She added that the city should consider a ban on sober living homes, much like the temporary ban passed in Laguna Niguel.
“Why don’t we do that too? Our taxpayers deserve that,” Mottl said.
Brian Maryott, Financial Services Executive
Maryott said the proliferation of sober living facilities in the area is due in part to a “perfect storm” of cheap money, increasing demand for treatment homes and a “well-intentioned state statute structure that never foresaw [the industry] meeting up with big business.”
“This is going to take a concerted effort by city officials, state legislators and our Congressman’s office,” he said.
Maryott said relief could be achieved with two courses of action: the state legislature could allow cities to implement distance requirements between treatment homes, and state statutes could be amended so facilities are treated like foster homes—meaning that for-profit homes would have to be in commercially zoned areas and not-for-profits could exist in residential communities.
“I think that would … leave us with well-intentioned people running those businesses,” Maryott said.
Discussion about this post