Title
Amend City Code - Public Hearing and Ordinance Adoption - Community Residences Text Amendment - Z-TA-6-17 (Ordinance G-6451)
Description
Request to hold a public hearing on a proposed text amendment for the following item and for the City Council to adopt the related Ordinance.
Report
Summary
This proposed text amendment is part of the Group Home Comprehensive Improvement package that also includes a City proposed licensing program for structured sober living homes. The text amendment proposal updates zoning regulations related to group homes for individuals with disabilities, including sober living homes, based on input from a months-long public working committee process with a diverse stakeholder group that included several dozen residents and Take Action Phoenix (TAP) neighborhood coalition members, sober living home operators and former sober living home residents, experts in addiction and substance abuse treatment, fair housing advocates and representatives for providers of services to people with disabilities, and a current assisted living home operator and industry representative. PDD staff also contracted with nationally renowned group home expert Daniel Lauber to help craft these regulations and ensure we are protecting people living in community residences and as a result improve surrounding neighborhoods, while working within the limits of the Federal Fair Housing and Americans with Disabilities Acts and other applicable state and federal laws.
Staff from the City Clerk and Neighborhood Services departments led efforts to draft the licensing program proposal. Staff from the Equal Opportunity, Finance, Fire, and Police departments, as well as the Government Relations and City Prosecutor's offices, and representatives from several state agencies, were on hand throughout the working committee process to provide updates and feedback on group home related topics on which they are subject matter experts.
This text amendment limits unstructured and unlicensed group homes with six to 10 residents in residential districts, updates definitions to create the new Community Residence Home and Center classifications, adds community residence spacing safeguards to prevent clustering, establishes a Zoning Disability Accommodation Committee to review reasonable accommodation requests by an applicant, increases parking requirements to limit on-street vehicle impacts and addresses the use of multifamily apartments as community residence centers.
Application: Z-TA-6-17
Request: Group Homes/Community Residences Text Amendment
Proposal: Amend several sections of the Phoenix Zoning Ordinance regarding group homes, community residences, and associated uses and regulations. For the affected sections, see the Draft Ordinance (Attachment A).
Applicant: City of Phoenix Planning Commission
Representative: City of Phoenix Planning and Development Department (PDD)
Staff: Approval per the language in Exhibit A of the Addendum B Staff Report, dated April 5, 2018 (Attachment B).
Concurrence/Previous Council Action
Fourteen Village Planning Committees heard this case and 10 recommended approval as proposed in the Addendum A Staff Report (Attachment C), and four recommended approval as proposed in the Addendum A Staff Report with modifications. See Attachment D for a summary of the results.
The Planning Commission heard this case on April 5, 2018 and recommended approval per the language in Exhibit A of Addendum B (Attachment B) dated April 5, 2018 by a vote of 6-0.
Department
Responsible Department
This item is submitted by Deputy City Manager Mario Paniagua and the Planning and Development Department.