Item 309/2025
Final
City of Garden Grove
INTER-DEPARTMENT MEMORANDUM
To:
Lisa L. Kim From: Niki Wetzel
Dept:
City Manager Dept: Community Development
Date: 9/23/2025
Subject: Introduction and first reading of an an Ordinance approving Zoning Text Amendment No. A-045-2025 to amend Title 9 of the Garden Grove Municipal Code (GGMC) to add definitions, special operating conditions, and parking standards to allow Substance Abuse Treatment Centers as a conditionally permitted use for properties zoned M-1 (Limited Industrial), entitled:
AN ORDINANCE OF THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF GARDEN GROVE
AMENDING PROVISIONS OF THE LAND USE CODE RELATING TO SUBSTANCE ABUSE TREATMENT CENTERS. (Action Item)
OBJECTIVE
To transmit a recommendation from the Planning Commission to the City Council to take the following actions: (i) to introduce and conduct the first reading of an Ordinance approving Zoning Amendment No. A -045-2025 to add definitions, special operating conditions, and parking standards to allow Substance Abuse Treatment Centers as a conditionally permitted use for properties zoned M-1 (Limited Industrial).
BACKGROUND
City Staff has received inquiries to establish Substance Abuse Treatment Centers in the City.
However, Garden Grove’s Municipal Code lacks regulations for these types of uses. While these uses provide a valuable service to the community, they can be associated with negative impacts on surrounding properties. Therefore, the public health, safety, and welfare may be negatively impacted without adequate regulation of such uses.
On December 20, 2023, the City Council adopted Urgency Ordinance No. 2949 (Attachment 3), an urgency measure establishing a 45 -day moratorium prohibiting the issuance of any new license, approval or entitlements related to new Substance Abuse Treatment Centers in order to protect the public health, safety, and welfare of the community.
On January 23, 2024, the City Council adopted Urgency Ordinance No. 2950 (Attachment 4), extending the temporary moratorium for an additional ten (10) months and 15 days (for a total of one year), in order to provide staff with sufficient time to study and analyze possible Item 309/2025
regulations, identify appropriate location s, and determine the process for approval of Substance Abuse Treatment Centers.
On November 12, 2024, the City Council adopted Urgency Ordinance No. 2959 (Attachment 5), extending the temporary moratorium for an additional 12 months from December 19, 2024, through December 19, 2025, in order to allow Staff to study and consider enactment of zoning measures to appropriately update the City’s Municipal Code and zoning regulations.
After careful research, the City is proposing an Amendment to Title 9 of the Garden Grove Municipal Code to add definitions, special operating conditions and development standards, and parking standards to allow Substance Abuse Treatment Centers as a conditionally permitted use for properties zoned M-1 (Limited Industrial).
On August 21, 2025, the Planning Commission held a public hearing to consider approval of the proposed Amendment. No members of the public spoke regarding the Amendment, and no written comments were received. By a vote of 5 -1, with one Planning Commissioner absent, the Planning Commission adopted Resolution No. 6124 -25 recommending that the City Council adopt an ordinance approving Amendment No. A-045-2025.
DISCUSSION
The following summary presents proposed amendments to Title 9 of the Municipal Code to address possible negative impacts associated with Substance Abuse Treatment Centers. The proposed amendments will allow the City to regulate these centers in appropriate zones and will also include reasonable regulations intended to continue to protect the public health, safety and welfare of the community.
In part, proposed changes include:
Updates to definitions for "medical, dental, and related hea lth services support facilities” and "prescription pharmacy” to clarify that these uses are not considered “substance abuse treatment centers” to allow precision in the application and interpretation of existing definitions.
Add one definition for “subst ance abuse treatment centers” to indicate that these facilities are intended to operate in an outpatient manner and allow for couns eling services for persons with substance abuse disorders. The definition would indicate that medications to assist with cravings or withdrawal symptoms may also be administered at these facilities.
Establish Substance Abuse Treatment Centers as a conditionally permitted use in the M-1 (Limited Industrial) zone to ensure land use compatibility resulting in the protection of sensitive uses. Requiring a Conditional Use Permit will allow the City to impose appropriate conditions of approval related to the operational conditions of these facilities to allow regulation and limit potential negative impacts to the surrounding area.
Establish the following Special Operating Conditions and Development Standards:
Item 309/2025
o For consistency with the City’s treatment of location restrictions to sensitive uses for other uses with potential impacts to the surrounding area, restrict Substance Abuse Treatment Centers to at least 500 feet of any "R" zoned property, any property with a residential overlay, any property occupied by a residential use, any Planned Unit Development unless it is amended to expressly allow the use, any public or private school facility, grades K through 12, any property developed with a child day care center, any property occupied by a community meeting center, a public park, or a public library.
o To prevent an overconcentration of Substance Abuse Treatment Centers to minimize potential impacts, restrict their location to a minimum distance of 500 feet from any other similar use within or outside the City limits. o Allow the hearing body to impose conditions of approval via the Conditional Use Permit process addressing safety, hours of operation, and security requirements to mitigate against potential nuisance or public safety concerns. Establish new parking standards for Substance Abuse Treatment Centers as five (5) parking spaces per 1,000 square feet of gross floor area, consist ent with neighboring cities surveyed as part of Staff’s analysis.
A full discussion of the Amendment is found in the August 21, 2025, Planning Commission Staff Report (Attachment 2).
Environmental Review:
The proposed amendments are purely regulatory changes which, by themselves, have no physical effect on the environment. The potential impacts of future development that might be facilitated by the amendments need not be considered if the nature of the future development is not reasonably foreseeable. (Aptos Council v. County of Santa Cruz (2017) 10 Cal.App.5th 266, 294.) The City is not aware of any affected parcel owner who would submit an application for a substance abuse treatment center. As a result, the amendments are not subject to CEQA at this time. When a particular Substance Abuse Treatment Center is proposed, it will be subject to review for compliance with CEQA.
FINANCIAL IMPACT
None.
RECOMMENDATION
It is recommended that the City Council:
Conduct a Public Hearing; and
Introduce and conduct the first reading of an Ordinance approving Amendment No.
A-045-2025.
Item 309/2025
ATTACHMENT(S)
1. Attachment 1: Draft City Council Ordinance for Amendment No. A-045-2025
2. Attachment 2: Planning Commission Staff Report dated August 21, 2025, with associated Resolution and Minute Excerpt
3. Attachment 3: Urgency Ordinance No. 2949, adopted December 20, 2023
4. Attachment 4: Urgency Ordinance No. 2950, adopted January 23, 2024
5. Attachment 5: Urgency Ordinance No. 2959, adopted November 12, 2024