Sample Letter to City Representatives
Dear City Councilmember ____________________,
I am writing to indicate my family’s support for the city taking action with respect to Congregate Care in San Juan Capistrano. You are already aware of how the introduction of short-term tenancies are changing our city. In particular, we need:
1) A census of all congregate care in San Juan Capistrano.
Our city must require that businesses and landlords operating short-term tenancies caring for the disabled self-identify and take out business licenses. The city has the right to know what is taking place within its borders.
2) A regulation addressing short-term and transitory lodging, restricting it to certain zones.
San Juan Capistrano city code lacks clear definition between elements of residential uses, including commercialization of residential homes as hotels, vacation rentals, recovery/detox, parolee housing, and boarding houses. We need amendments to zoning to address this challenge.
3) An anti-concentration rule.
Riverside’s rule (19.260.040) on Site Location, Operation and Development Standards sets a 300 foot limit between any type of Congregate Care and a 1000 foot limit for parolee homes. In Olmsted v. LC (1999), it was concluded that unjustified “segregation” and “isolation” of persons with disabilities is a “form of discrimination.” Operators in San Juan Capistrano are creating clusters of homes as on Paseo Terrazzo, Paseo Michelle, and Calle de Bonanza. In Familystyle vs. City of St. Paul (1991), the court held that a spacing requirement “guarantees that residential treatment facilities will be in the community, rather than in neighborhoods completely made up of group homes…,” indicating anti-concentration rules do not violate the Fair Housing Act. San Juan Capistrano needs this rule.
4) A moratorium on any city business licenses given to additional treatment, counseling or recovery centers.
San Juan Capistrano already has a very high concentration of these businesses. If the city is serious about maintaining an appropriate and proportional number of Congregate Care residences, it must deny new business licenses to therapeutic centers.
Our family is grateful for the progress the council has made so far. Please take the next steps.
Sincerely,
I am writing to indicate my family’s support for the city taking action with respect to Congregate Care in San Juan Capistrano. You are already aware of how the introduction of short-term tenancies are changing our city. In particular, we need:
1) A census of all congregate care in San Juan Capistrano.
Our city must require that businesses and landlords operating short-term tenancies caring for the disabled self-identify and take out business licenses. The city has the right to know what is taking place within its borders.
2) A regulation addressing short-term and transitory lodging, restricting it to certain zones.
San Juan Capistrano city code lacks clear definition between elements of residential uses, including commercialization of residential homes as hotels, vacation rentals, recovery/detox, parolee housing, and boarding houses. We need amendments to zoning to address this challenge.
3) An anti-concentration rule.
Riverside’s rule (19.260.040) on Site Location, Operation and Development Standards sets a 300 foot limit between any type of Congregate Care and a 1000 foot limit for parolee homes. In Olmsted v. LC (1999), it was concluded that unjustified “segregation” and “isolation” of persons with disabilities is a “form of discrimination.” Operators in San Juan Capistrano are creating clusters of homes as on Paseo Terrazzo, Paseo Michelle, and Calle de Bonanza. In Familystyle vs. City of St. Paul (1991), the court held that a spacing requirement “guarantees that residential treatment facilities will be in the community, rather than in neighborhoods completely made up of group homes…,” indicating anti-concentration rules do not violate the Fair Housing Act. San Juan Capistrano needs this rule.
4) A moratorium on any city business licenses given to additional treatment, counseling or recovery centers.
San Juan Capistrano already has a very high concentration of these businesses. If the city is serious about maintaining an appropriate and proportional number of Congregate Care residences, it must deny new business licenses to therapeutic centers.
Our family is grateful for the progress the council has made so far. Please take the next steps.
Sincerely,