Clovis council will get tougher on group housing

Tighter restrictions will soon apply to Clovis properties used for group housing, such as sober-living homes, boarding houses and homes for parolees and probationers, Clovis City Council members decided Monday night.

But the decision didn’t satisfy everyone who attended Monday’s council meeting. Under state law, the city can’t stop homes with fewer than six sober-living or alcohol-and-drug-treatment residents from locating in neighborhoods of single-family houses.

Those types of group homes require a state license, city business license and permits.

Homes with more than six residents will be confined to higher-density apartment zones or commercial areas.

The changes won’t go into effect until after a final council vote, which could occur in April.

Council Member Nathan Magsig said the city seems unable to add more teeth to the permitting process, but he supported the plan because it would enable the city to keep track of group homes.

A decision was delayed last month as the city examined options to allow group homes as home-occupation businesses separate from a home office. That issue is still unresolved.

Council Member Lynne Ashbeck said the city should put home-occupation permits into three divisions: those with offices only, those with occasional visitors, and group homes. She also wanted a provision to require neighbors’ signatures on petitions before permits are approved.

The council supported making a distinction between single-family homes and boarding houses by restricting such homes from single-family neighborhoods. The city also will require a special permit for parolee/probationer homes.

In approving the probationer/parolee portion, council members required that anyone living within 2,000 feet of a proposed site be notified.

Any group-housing facility also must be at least 1,000 feet from any other such facility. Previously, the distance allowed between them had been 300 feet.

The city was in the process of rewriting its group housing ordinance last year when residents complained about a home on the 2500 block of Dennis Avenue, where several people were living in a boarding-house setting.

Neighbors showed council members a Craigslist Web site ad for the home that described it as a sober-living house. The home’s owner said the ad was wrong.

The city found the home was used as a boarding house, but did not meet city business and zoning regulations because the owner didn’t have a business license. The house is in a single-family area where boarding houses are prohibited.

Dennis Spitzer, who lives nearby, said the city needs more teeth and should consider standing up to the state. He also said neighbor’s signatures should be required for approval because “it gives us a way of knowing what’s in our backyard.”