_______________________________
Kathleen Ward
Mayor, City of San Clemente
City Hall ● 910 Calle Negocio, San Clemente CA 92673 ● (949) 361-8200 ● www.san-clemente.org Page PAGE \* MERGEFORMAT 2
December 5, 2023
Governor Gavin Newsom
1021 O Street, Suite 9000
Sacramento, CA 95814
Governor Newsom,
As fellow elected officials, we identify with your commitment to improving the lives of the residents of California. As you were elected by the residents of the state, we were elected by the residents of our community to listen, learn and implement policies that will make San Clemente the best possible community as a mission driven organization. The stated and adopted Mission Statement of the City of San Clemente is to:
Maintain a safe, healthy atmosphere in which to live, work and play Guide development to ensure responsible growth while preserving and enhancing our village character, unique environment and natural amenities Provide for the City’s long-term stability through promotion of economic vitality and diversity Resulting in a balanced community committed to protecting what is valued today while meeting tomorrow’s needs.
In an ever-increasing manner, laws and regulations imposed at a state level, and specifically state facilitation of sober living facilities, are in direct conflict with the very mission of our community. The ‘one size fits all’ approach to many state regulations fails to consider the differences and diversity of more than 480 municipalities that make our state so appealing. If every city is identical and uses the exact same model for every challenge, our cities will lose their sense of place and identity. Local land use decisions are enabled through local police powers not possessed by the state. Through a transparent public process with hearings and findings, cities adopt zoning districts, plan for infrastructure, and provide public safety and community services to their residents. When state mandates, with no public input, arbitrarily disrupt the adopted plans and programs of cities, the lives of real people are impacted and residents lose faith in our democratic process. Lot splits, accessory dwelling units, and sober living homes all approved by right without any local regulation may be well-intentioned, but by almost any fair measurement have not addressed the housing needs in the state, nor reduced drug and alcohol addiction or homelessness. Perhaps allowing cities to address these issues in a manner that can be supported by local residents will have better results than implementing the exact same strategy in cities so structurally diverse as San Francisco, San Diego and San Clemente.
To speak directly of sober living homes, these facilities are far more business oriented than community minded. Strong, close-knit communities are the result of residents who have invested their resources and time into creating a neighborhood atmosphere. Sober living homes are intentionally short-term, transient residents with little or no personal investment in the betterment of neighborhoods.
To remedy this situation, the City of San Clemente is seeking the following amendments to the current state regulations:
Through appropriate zoning regulations, each community should be able to identify appropriate locations, density, separation, parking, and other land use regulations for sober living homes.
Strict penalties must be in place for safety violations, neighborhood disturbances, and other nuisance situations that include the loss of a license to operate a sober living home.
Comprehensive background checks to avoid fraud, patient brokering, exceedance of allowable clients, and other violations must be included in the licensure of sober living homes. State and/or local inspections should occur on a monthly basis to ensure all regulations are satisfied.
The ‘by right’ approval of sober living homes should be placed suspended until federal legislation (Studying Outcomes and Benchmarks for Effective Recovery (SOBER) – Rep. Levin) has been considered by the United States Congress.
Without granting local control, the state has assumed complete control of sober living homes and allows the approval to be by right. Should local control not be restored, the state needs to assume all liability for property damage, theft, loss of value, and other impacts attributable to sober livings homes in local communities.
Finally, while the City of San Clemente is supportive of efforts to provide necessary assistance to persons with mental and physical challenges, the current language in AB 531 intended to allow residents to vote for bond proceeds of almost $4.7 billion should be rejected by your office. More than half of the money ($2.89 billion) is intended to fund “behavioral health treatment in a residential setting” which is only a creative way to say behavioral treatment in sober living homes in existing neighborhoods by right with no local input, regulations or control.
As the elected leader of California, we call on you to end the practice of destroying community character by implementing policies that jeopardize neighborhood safety. In particular, the restoration of local control of zoning and land use enabled by local police powers should be promoted by your office.
Respectfully,
Chris Duncan, Mayor Steve Knoblock, Mayor Pro Tem
Victor Cabral, Councilmember Mark Enmeier, Councilmember Rick Loeffler, Councilmember
CELEBRATING 90 YEARS OF INCORPORATION
OFFICE OF THE MAYOR
AND CITY COUNCIL
Chris Duncan
Mayor
Steve Knoblock
Mayor Pro Tem
Victor Cabral
Mark Enmeier
Rick Loeffler
CITY MANAGER
Andy Hall
910 Calle Negocio
San Clemente, CA 92673
Phone: (949) 361-8200
“The Spanish Village
by the Sea”