Boynton considers new sober home rules

As the expiration date nears for Boynton Beach’s temporary six-month ban on new group homes, the city is exploring new regulations for sober homes.

The new rules aim to “maintain quality residential environments,” meaning single-family characteristics, according to a new city report by Development Director Andrew Mack.

The moratorium, unless extended, will expire June 4, and those established after the six months would be bound by the city’s new rules. Already proposed regulations include:

Mandatory certification for sober homes through the Florida Association of Recovery Residences

A distance standard of 300 feet between all group homes

Increased parking requirements.

Delray Beach last week considered similar certification regulations, but set the distance standard at 660 feet, limiting group homes to one per block.

The study highlights the lack of any oversight on halfway houses, which shelter people recovering from alcohol or drug addiction. A regulatory system would ensure their needs are met and protect them from abusive practices in Palm Beach County’s recovery industry, the report states.

Federal rules, primarily in the Fair Housing Act, allow sober homes in neighborhoods and protect recovering addicts from discrimination. Boynton currently has nine certified sober homes, officials said at Tuesday’s commission meeting.

But neighbors have been at odds with the homes’ potential negative consequences. The regulations will maintain the singlefamily integrity of the neighborhoods, the study states, benefiting the conventional family as well as those in group housing.

The second recommendation would require all new sober homes to be separated by 300 feet — roughly the space of four homes — to prevent strain on neighborhoods like those on Riviera Drive, the report said.

On the dead-end street, three sober homes operating simultaneously caused traffic volumes to exceed the daily volume by 200 percent for a singlefamily neighborhood, the report said.

The neighborhood also had twice the emergency calls of a neighborhood of similar size and design that contained no operating group homes, the report said.

The new rules would address parking shortages for group homes, requiring increased parking requirements. Single-family houses require a minimum of two parking spaces, the report said, but group homes can house up to six driving-age people. This excludes visitors, transport vehicles, counselors and overseers for the home.

The new regulations were met with support from commissioners Tuesday. Planning and Zoning Director Michael Rumpf presented the study.