Costa Mesa housing permit isn’t unfair to addicts, judge tentatively rules

A federal judge has tentatively ruled that Costa Mesa did not discriminate when it required operators of homes for recovering addicts to obtain a special permit or face closure.

In a Santa Ana courtroom Monday, Judge James V. Selna warned that Solid Landings Behavioral Health faces an “uphill battle” to prove that the law unfairly targets drug and alcohol addicts, who are considered a disabled and protected class under state and federal law.

Selna cited “fundamental disagreements” with Solid Landings’ assertions that Costa Mesa’s law violates fair-housing requirements or fails to make “reasonable accommodations” for the disabled.

Costa Mesa officials have disputed Solid Landings’ claims, contending that the ordinance actually grants the disabled special permission to live in single-family home settings. That permission, city attorneys argue, is otherwise denied to operators of places that serve nondisabled people, like boardinghouses.

Selna did not issue a final ruling Monday that would dismiss the case or indicate if he will give Solid Landings a chance to amend its complaint, as he did in January.

Solid Landings and its subsidiaries operate between 20 and 30 homes in Costa Mesa, according to City Hall estimates.

In response to the tentative ruling, spokeswoman Jemellee Ambrose said in a statement: “Solid Landings is currently waiting for the judge’s final ruling, which we expect to come soon.”

The ordinance was approved by the City Council last fall. It required sober-living or group homes within single-family neighborhoods to apply for the first-come, first-serve special permits by April 8.

Homes that have applied now have up to two years to comply with a host of new restrictions, including providing a “good neighbor” policy to City Hall. The homes also must be at least 650 feet from one another — a distance that seeks to prevent their proliferation in neighborhoods.

Homes that do not apply for permits could be cited or face closure proceedings.

The law affected an estimated 50 sober-living homes within Costa Mesa’s single-family neighborhoods. A second law is in the works that would make similar provisions for houses in multifamily neighborhoods.

On April 8 — the last day of a 90-day deadline to apply for permits — a Solid Landings subsidiary applied for eight of them.

As of Monday, City Hall had received 37 applications thus far, 21 of which came April 8. The day before, only 16 operators had applied.