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Cookeville council requests state authority to regulate location of sober living homes
Summary
The Cookeville City Council approved a resolution asking the Tennessee Legislature to amend state law so Putnam County and its cities could adopt local rules on siting and operating sober living homes; proponents cited a recent local incident and pointed to a recently enacted Public Chapter 503 as a model.
Cookeville — The Cookeville City Council voted unanimously to ask state lawmakers to allow local governments in Putnam County to regulate the location and operation of new sober living homes.
City staff presented Resolution R25-11-20 on behalf of the city, saying federal and current state law limit what municipalities can require for group homes with eight or fewer occupants and up to three caregivers. "Under current state law ... sober living facilities with 8 or less occupants and up to 3 caregivers have to be treated exactly like a single-family home," said James Mills, a city official. Mills cited a recently adopted state Public Chapter 503 in another county that allows a 1,000-foot separation requirement from day cares and schools for new sober living homes and allows grandfathering of existing homes.
A resident, Trent Strode of Cookeville, spoke during public comment and urged the council not to treat addiction primarily as a code-enforcement matter. "I feel that this is somewhat of a legislative move in order to treat mental health issues ... as some sort of code enforcement issue instead of where the crisis really is," Strode said.
Mills said the resolution would direct the city's Putnam County representatives to the Tennessee General Assembly to sponsor amendments to the Tennessee Code to include Putnam County and its municipalities in the statute, giving local governments the option to regulate location or operation subject to further legal review. "This doesn't mean that we will take any additional action," Mills said, adding that the city still needs more legal analysis on what it can and cannot do.
The council voted 4–0 to approve the resolution. Mills told the council that, if enacted by the legislature, changes would not be effective until the following May or June.
What’s next: The resolution asks state legislators to sponsor the change; any local regulatory steps would require further legal review and cannot take effect until after the state-level change becomes law.
