By Tim Pallesen
The Caron Foundation has sued Delray Beach after the city denied its request to operate a sober house for seven recovering alcoholics and drug addicts at 1232 Seaspray Ave.
City commissioners also had responded to outrage over sober houses near the ocean on Feb. 21 by approving three ordinances to make it more difficult for treatment providers to operate in the city.
“The city might not like it, but our rights are well settled by federal laws,” responded Andrew Rothermel, Caron vice president, calling the city’s actions discriminatory. “I don’t think the commissioners had the will to do the right thing in light of the public outcry.”
The denial to operate the Seaspray sober house came in a Feb. 22 letter from planning and zoning director Paul Dorling, who said Caron had failed to show why seven residents were necessary for the house to be “therapeutically successful” and “financially viable.”
A parade of upset residents had implored commissioners at a Feb. 21 public hearing to protect their single-family neighborhoods.
The most significant new ordinance reduces the turnover of bedrooms rented to alcoholics and drug addicts from six to three times per year. City commissioners also passed ordinances to beef up the application process to operate a sober house and to obtain a landlord permit.
“We designed our program to follow the city’s rules and they decided to change the rules midstream,” Rothermel had complained after the three ordinances were approved. “If they use these ordinances to restrict us, they’re going to have a fight on their hands.”
The federal lawsuit, filed Feb. 24, seeks an injunction to prevent the city from enforcing the new rules. Caron also seeks damages and attorney fees.
The ordinance to limit rental turnovers would restrict providers by forcing sober houses to operate at only half their capacity, Rothermel said.
Recovering alcoholics and drug addicts typically stay in a sober house for two months. With only three turnovers per year, each bedroom could only be used for six months per year.
“It’s really detrimental to have patients living in a house that’s half empty,” Rothermel said. “They don’t get the benefit of a sober living environment.”
The right for treatment providers to house up to seven patients was established in 2007 when Boca Raton attempted to limit sober housing.
A federal judge struck down Boca Raton’s limit of only three patients per house after the American Civil Liberties Union argued that patients have a greater chance of recovery with more patients in a sober house.
The judge said recovering alcoholics and drug addicts are protected under the federal Fair Housing Act and Americans with Disabilities Act.
Delray Beach hired outside attorneys to advise how the city could fight sober housing by other means. The new application procedure for sober house approvals requires treatment providers provide an address for proposed sober houses so neighbors have time to object. Ú
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