Mission Viejo adopts model ordinance requiring permits, spacing and manager rules for sober-living homes

The Mission Viejo City Council on March 25 adopted a new ordinance that rescinds the city’s prior registration program and creates a new Chapter 5.06 regulating group homes and sober-living residences. Staff said the ordinance requires owners and operators to apply for a group-home permit with owner and manager contact information, operational rules, intake and relapse policies, a 24-hour house manager and a 1,000-foot separation standard between sober-living homes.

Jeff Corless, president and CEO of Venture Strategic and a consultant to the California Sober Living and Recovery Task Force, told the council the model ordinance grew from local forums and statewide collaboration. “Mission Viejo decided it was gonna take its take matters into its own hands,” Corless said, describing the task force’s efforts to collect support letters and to simplify legislative engagement through a centralized website. During public comment, resident Tanya Wills described daily neighborhood impacts from two adjacent sober-living homes and asked whether owners face fines; the city attorney said enforcement could be civil or criminal and noted typical city-code fines start at $500 but abatement costs could push penalties into the thousands.

City staff recommended and the council found the project exempt from CEQA before voting to adopt the ordinance; the motion passed on the record. The ordinance replaces the prior registration program with a permit regime designed to give the city more tools to address nuisance activity while also including requirements staff said aim to protect residents in recovery. The city will return with implementation details and enforcement procedures under the new chapter.