The Morning Journal (Lorain, OH)
Officials reject sober homes proposal
Board rejects sober facility for Hamilton Avenue after debate
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A local contractor must cancel plans for a sober living facility planned for Lorain’s oldest neighborhood.
But the plan to convert homes to recovery housing for men sparked debate about what the
facilities are andwhere they might fit in Lorain.
On Sept. 4, the Lorain Zoning Board of Appeals voted 5- 0 to deny using 720 Hamilton Ave. as a rental home that requires men living there to abstain from using any alcohol or illegal drugs.
Lorain contractor Don Buchs and project partner Tracy Homenik planned to use the house as a sober living space formen who want such a residence.
The Zoning Board decision hinged on the city’s legal definition of a residential social service facility in a neighborhood zoned single-family, two-family or multi-family homes.
But the Zoning Board also spent about two hours considering testimony about exactly what happens at the sober residence.
Getting in
In March, Buchs applied for the occupancy permit for the house, along with 740 Hamilton Ave., 754 Hamilton Ave. and 500 Oberlin Ave.
His March 8 application letter stated “our stipulation to live in them is you must be sober.”
“The property usage is the same, being rental apartments, specifically for
the sober only now,” Buchs said.
The city Department of Building, Housing and Planning issued a conditional occupancy permit for 720 Hamilton Ave. in March and city staff approved a rental certificate of occupancy in May, said Attorney RyanM. Gembala, who represented Buchs and Homenik.
About two months later, the city then issued a notice of violation to Buchs and Homenik, claiming they wrongly were operating a residential social service facility at 720 Hamilton Ave.
Buchs andHomenik then appealed that July 23 ruling to the Zoning Board of Appeals.
Gembala and city Assistant Law Director Ken Resar argued whether the facility meets the city criteria for a group residence for people who are not related and whomay be drug or alcohol
offenders.
Zoning Board members Safety-Service Director Dan Given, fire Chief Christopher Radman, Henry Patterson, Jeff Zellers and Ken Kramer voted to deny Buchs’ appeal.
“We are going to fight it because they had granted us occupancy on this property based on the true facts, and now they’re trying to revoke it,” Homenik said. “They shouldn’t take back something they gave me when they already knew what it was.”
A newstart
Buchs said he is leasing the house to Road 2 Recovery LLC, which Homenik operates to support sober living conditions for people.
The houses previously were run down eyesores known among neighbors for poor conditions, Homenik said.
She described them as known crack houses that
were the worst in the neighborhood.
Now, they are upgraded to raise the value of the area, Homenik said.
“People who live in this house are sober,” she said.
Living in a sober house with other people helps people stay sober and become productive citizens recovering from problems they have, Homenik said.
“These are not people that are a threat to anybody,” Homenik said. “These are just people that did have a problemand now are starting a new life.”
Neighbor dispute
Hamilton Avenue residents Louise Anthony and Carla Miller split over their new neighbors.
Anthony said she donated $3,000 toward purchasing bedding, kitchen supplies and personal items for the homes and residents.
“I was so thrilled to see something better across the street from me, than the homes that were in squalor for so many years, and yet nothing was done,” she said.
The men have become helpful assistants maintaining yards for others, Anthony said.
“I am grateful to have such fine neighbors because they are people who are really trying to change themselves, the way they think, the way they live, the way they eat,” she said. “I want them as my neighbors. I
want to continue having themas neighbors. They are good, clean-cut men.”
Miller painted a different picture of a rowdy house with up to 15men living inside, and with more to come at Buchs’ other Hamilton Avenue homes.
“It’s like a frat house with no alcohol; nobody can tell me any different,” said Miller, who testified with her husband, Joe.
Loraine Ritchey, of the Charleston Village Society historic preservation group, agreed with Gembala that the houses were “an absolute disgrace” for 20 years.
When the houses were sold, neighbors were thrilled with what was happening — until they found out who would live there, Ritchey said.
There is nothing wrong with facilities to help people who need it, said Mayor Joe Koziura.
But Lorain’s residential neighborhoods are not the right place for them, Koziura said.
Ritchey and Koziura offered information about Lorain having a disproportionate number of social service agencies, registered sex offenders and people directed to live in the city by parole authorities.
Charleston Village Society works to preserve Lorain’s oldest neighborhood, which has a number of old, large homes, Ritchey said.
Allowing sober residences
could lead to saturation of such facilities there, she said.
Happening elsewhere
The same conversation is happening inOhio communities because recovery residences are new to the state, said Elaine Georgas, interim executive director of the Mental Health, Addiction and Recovery Services Board of Lorain County.
When asked by the Zoning Board, Georgas said it appeared discussion about 720 Hamilton Ave. was about recovery housing, not a social services agency.
Based on Lorain’s current law, the Zoning Board decision was fair, Georgas said afterward.
The discussion was a good opportunity to bring attention to state criteria for recovery housing, she said.
In October 2018, the Ohio Department ofMental Health and Addiction Services created quality housing criteria for recovery housing. The criteria cover the physical environment of a residence and the programs that take place there.
Recovery housing is not a program, per se, Georgas said afterward.
But when a residence has rules about sobriety, it is not the same as just renting a room, apartment or house, she said.
“The line is just blurry,” Georgas said.