County regs don’t protect from ‘transition house’

Can this happen to you? You move to the county to get away from the city traffic and then a transition house for people on parole or probation or suffering drug addiction moves next door with all its inherent activities and traffic. Aren’t there laws to prohibit this? Apparently not. Some cities have zoning laws that help. Most counties, including Benton County, do not have zoning regulations or any ordinances and/or regulations that apply to this particular type of land use. As a result, an application to the Benton County Planning Board and subsequent consideration and approval is not necessary for a transition house to move into a single-family dwelling next door to you.

Last fall, the house next door that we share a driveway with sold. The new owners of the house told us they bought the property as an investment and intended to lease it to their daughter and a couple of ladies. In April, in the middle of a pandemic, we received a certified letter informing us of a public hearing in compliance with Arkansas Code section 12-25-101 that specifies all households within 1,000 feet of a transition house receive a certified letter informing them of a hearing. The new owners of the house applied to Arkansas Community Correction for licensure to become a transition house with eight residents. Transition houses provide housing for one or more offenders (can include Class C felony or higher) who have been transferred or paroled from ACC or placed on probation by the courts.

We, along with other neighbors who received the letter, were in disbelief. We had no forewarning. We acknowledge that it is difficult to get a job and find a place to live after coming out of jail/prison or a treatment program. We have no problem having anyone with a drug/alcohol or criminal history living next door. We support the purpose of transitional housing to help persons reintegrate into their community after incarceration/treatment. However, we feel that a residential neighborhood is the wrong location. Our neighborhood has narrow winding roads with blind corners and no sidewalks. Children play and walk on the roads. The roads are not in good repair and some are unpaved. The extra traffic anticipated with having eight residents living in the home, all of them required to work and attend meetings, plus, the staff, volunteers, mentors, sponsors, parole officers, etc., presents a safety concern.

There are other transition houses in residential neighborhoods in Northwest Arkansas even though their neighbors opposed for various reasons, i.e., safety, security, negative impact on property values, etc. We understand from others that this pattern of starting out as a residence and gradually becoming a transition house is not new. This could happen in your neighborhood. We urge you to contact Benton County Planning and persuade them to do the right thing and address the lack of governance regarding this issue to prevent future encroachments to our residential neighborhoods.

TOM AND BARBARA SCHUESSLER

Rogers