Harrisonburg mulling options for Cooperative Sober Living Residence occupancy

HARRISONBURG, Va. (WHSV) - At the Harrisonburg City Council meeting on Tuesday night a proposed ordinance regarding occupancy at Cooperative Sober Living Residences was withdrawn. These types of group homes are for people recovering from substance abuse to live together and work on their recovery.

In some cases, these types of homes are exceeding the city’s occupancy limit. In most residences in the city, there is a limit of four unrelated occupants. The Oxford House is currently operating three of these homes in the city.

“We began working with the operators there to try to find a solution to the issues with overoccupancy. That lead up to last September when city council tasked staff with beginning to research a potential ordinance that would regulate how operators of facilities like that would work with the city to get approved for operation,” said Harrisonburg Director of Communications Mike Parks.

On Tuesday city staff withdrew a proposed ordinance change that would require a special use permit for these types of homes and is now exploring a different solution that would allow the operation of these homes without city approval as long as they were state certified.

“Using this method that we are currently considering, with a new law that actually went into effect in July here in Virginia operators would have to work with the state department to get certified and there are certain regulations they would have to meet,” said Parks.

City staff withdrew the ordinance proposal to allow time for more research on the issue and to look further into the by right option.

“What this ultimately would do is often take the city out of the consideration and allow those operators to work with the states. Though we would still be considering possibly some regulations in regard to the number of people that could live there, especially if we’re looking at more than 8 individuals,” said Parks.

Parks said city staff will continue to research and have conversations with other cities about they have handled similar situations before bringing a new proposal before city council.

“We’ve heard some concerns from neighbors and certainly we heard more concerns last night from individuals who choose to come and speak at the public hearing but we also have to be considerate and compassionate of individuals who are being served by these properties and recovering from addiction. So we’re going to continue these conversations and try to find a solution that works best for all involved,” said Parks.

Parks said that the city’s existing Cooperative Sober Living Residences will be allowed to continue their operations.