Highland Beach to send state-mandated recovery-residence procedure to planning board

The Town Commission of the Town of Highland Beach on Nov. 4 introduced a proposed ordinance to establish a procedure for reasonable accommodations for certified recovery residences and agreed, by consensus, to forward the draft to the planning board for review.

The ordinance implements timeframes and a review path required under federal law and recent state direction, the presenter explained, and would route applications first to the building official (or designee) and then to a special magistrate for a public hearing. "This is another mandate from our friends up in Tallahassee," the presenter said, adding the process aligns with the Americans with Disabilities Act and the Fair Housing Act and includes statutory timelines that, if missed, can trigger deeming provisions in favor of an applicant.

Why it matters: persons undergoing…