Status of fight against sober living house unclear

The Town of Grafton, which last month sent a cease and desist order to prevent a sober living facility from locating on Lake Shore Road, has not heard back from the operators of the facility, Town Chairman Lester Bartel said Tuesday.

In a letter sent to Forest Recovery WI, Town Attorney Matt Nugent states that the sober living facility, which would be located at 598 Lake Shore Rd., is not a permitted use in the residential zoning district.

“You are not permitted to begin such use,” the letter, dated May 15, states.

Neighbors became aware of the planned sober living facility after a deliveryman told a neighbor he had dropped off 11 mattresses there, Town Chairman Lester Bartel said, and neighbors began contacting town officials.

“We knew absolutely nothing about it,” he said.

More than 125 neighbors attended the May 13 Town Board meeting to oppose the use, Bartel said.

“Their concerns are a rotating group of people who are in different stages of recovery from addiction,” he said, as well as the use of residential property for a business.

As far as the town is concerned, Bartel said, the issue is one of zoning — businesses aren’t allowed in a residential district.

“It’s clear to us they’re operating a commercial business there,” he said.

In a May 12 letter to the town, Forest Recovery WI attorney Brian Randall said that the eight-acre property and 4,080-square-foot house would accommodate as many as eight adults who are required to remain sober during their stay. No sex offenders or violent criminal offenders will be allowed to live at the house.

The town’s zoning code defines a single-family dwelling as a building designed or occupied for use by one family, the letter states, and family is defined as a group of people living as a single household entity.

The eight people living at the facility will “live together as a single housekeeping entity,” the letter states. They will share chores and follow house rules, and no treatment or medical services will occur at the house.

“The Forest’s use at the property is a permitted use under the town code because it squarely meets the definition of ‘dwelling, single family’ as well as the definitions of the individual words therein,” Randall wrote in his letter.

He also noted that people in recovery are recognized as people with disabilities  and federal law prohibits local government from using zoning or land use regulations to discriminate against them.

Randall could not be reached for comment.

Attorney Joseph Cincotta, representing neighbors who have formed the group Enforce Grafton Zoning, also wrote to the town expressing their belief that the zoning code does not allow this use.

In a May 13 letter to the town, Cincotta wrote, “The proposed use is a health care related operation for unrelated individuals who will be paying or receiving funds to allow them to stay at the property for a temporary period of time.... That is not a ‘single housekeeping unit. At best it is eight single housekeeping units.”

Cincotta also noted that the term dwelling does not include uses such as boarding houses, motels, hotels or cabins.

“The proposed use is very similar to a boarding house or lodging house, which are specifically not permitted as a dwelling in the (residential zoning zone),” he wrote.

“To find that the proposed use is a proper use of a single family dwelling would be directly contrary to the obvious intent of the R-1 (zoning district). The Town Board certainly was not intending to allow sober living facilities in the R-1 while excluding boarding houses and lodging houses. Such an interpretation would be absurd.”

At the May meeting, town officials told residents they would send a cease and desist order to the operators, Bartel said.

Supr. Jeff Thoma said, “We have rules and regulations about using your house as a business. It’s not as if they’re running a machine shop there, but it is a business.”

  Bartel said he expects the Town Board will take up the issue again, but no meeting has been set.