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Athens City Planning Commission considers zoning, permitting changes for recovery housing amid neighborhood safety concerns
Summary
The Planning Commission reviewed law‑director guidance and proposed zoning and housing‑code edits to regulate residential care facilities and recovery housing, heard strong neighborhood concerns about supervision and density, and voted to seek the law director’s formal opinion on restricting recovery houses in R‑1 zones.
The Athens City Planning Commission on Wednesday reviewed proposed changes to city zoning (Title 23) and the housing code (Title 29) aimed at regulating residential care facilities and recovery housing and asked the law director to opine on whether the city could restrict such facilities from R‑1 single‑family neighborhoods.
Staff read an email from the law director that, staff said, recommended edits to bring the draft into compliance with federal statutes, saying in part, "I believe my suggestions bring the proposed changes into compliance with the FHA and ADA," according to the staff member who read the memo into the record. The memo and staff presentation described permitting licensed residential care facilities in R‑1 zones (citing state registration requirements), a 1,000‑foot spacing or density provision associated with certain benefits, and moving periodic certification validation into the annual rental/recovery‑house permit inspections administered under the housing code.
The legal guidance described in the meeting noted…
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