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Effingham council adopts text amendment to regulate recovery homes and sober-living residences
Summary
The council approved an amendment to Appendix B of the municipal code that treats licensed recovery homes as community residences and establishes a special-use permitting path for unlicensed recovery residences (e.g., Oxford/sober-living homes) to ensure compliance with federal reasonable-accommodation obligations.
The Effingham City Council adopted a zoning text amendment intended to clarify how the city will regulate recovery homes and other types of recovery residences.
Planning staff explained that licensed recovery homes remain classified on the same footing as small and large community residences under the code, while unlicensed sober-living or "Oxford" homes would be eligible for operation only by obtaining a special-use permit. The special-use pathway requires the council or planning authority to evaluate impacts on adjacent properties, property values and whether the use would be injurious to the neighborhood, among other listed conditions.
"This allows these types of uses while supporting recovery to come in and seek a special use permit to allow them to be in a specific location once these conditions are met," City Planner Custer said, adding that the change is intended to satisfy federal reasonable-accommodation obligations. Planning staff referenced prior review by the planning commission and work with the city attorney in drafting the additional language.
A motion to adopt the amendment passed the council without recorded opposition.
Staff said the amendment will be published and integrated into the city's zoning ordinance references and that special-use petitions will be evaluated on a case-by-case basis against the criteria adopted tonight.
