Company's Motel Use Seems at Odds With Code  

(August 9, 2004) - A group-home company is using a Mesa motel to house its residents in an area where new group homes are prohibited by city rules.

Although the arrangement raises legal questions, probation officials and local group-home operators agree that more housing options are needed for alcoholics, drug addicts and ex-convicts.

Executives of the nonprofit Transitional Living Communities (TLC), which operates group homes throughout the state, said the one-story building at 1045 E. Main St. was a motel - as the painted sign out front reads.

But the nonprofit group has been renting rooms at the motel to house its "overflow" clients - people who are recovering alcoholics and substance abusers, said company CEO John Schwary.

Another employee of the group described the place differently, calling it "TLC for Women," Maricopa County probation officer Cynthia Ortiz said Wednesday. The employee called to say one of the probationers assigned to Ortiz was staying there, along with up to 17 other women, Ortiz said.

"She said it was a 40-bed facility, it wasn't a motel," Ortiz said. "I asked if it was licensed, she said it was not, that it hadn't been approved."

Voice mail on the employee's mobile phone asks callers to leave a message for "Rene with TLC for Women." The company cannot legally operate a group home at that location - which is zoned for commercial use, said Mesa zoning administrator John Gendron.

The city grants permits for group homes only in residential neighborhoods, and no new facility can be placed within 1,200 feet of another group home. Even if the Main Street site were rezoned as residential property, it is in another group home's 1,200-foot bubble.

But "as long as it's operating as a motel, you're fine," Gendron said.
Schwary consulted Gendron in early June about "two small motels and one hotel" the company owns and operates in Mesa. Schwary wrote in a June 3 letter that he was housing "our residents" at the motels and the hotel, and asked if that was acceptable to the city.

With the city's blessing, Schwary wrote, the company could then inform county probation officials and the Arizona Department of Corrections - which routinely place people in his programs - that the facilities met city guidelines.

Gendron replied the next day, stating that if Schwary's motels were used as motels, "and your clients occupy the facilities just as any other persons would occupy them, then this use would be consistent with Mesa's zoning regulations."

The situation gets blurrier from that point.

Although Transitional Living Communities can't legally run a group home at the site, some group-home-type activities might be allowed under the "motel" definition, Gendron said. For instance, the building could still be considered a motel if residents hold Alcoholics Anonymous meetings or agree to certain house rules as part of their rental agreements, Gendron said.

At typical TLC facilities, residents addicted to alcohol or drugs check in voluntarily or are ordered to attend the program by a probation or parole officer. Residents pay a "service fee" of $75 to $100 a week to live at TLC's homes and give up some of their freedoms. They must follow rules - as to when they can leave and who they can see, for example - and submit to on-demand drug tests, according to TLC's Web site.

Some people would consider it a double standard if TLC is allowed to run a group home without any oversight from the city, said Patricia Henderson of Women in New Recovery.

Henderson is a member of an association of group-home operators as well as Schwary's ex-wife. "TLC for Women" has already taken away clients from her female-only group homes, she said.

"We're all looking at this thing saying, 'Why should we be licensed and what is the point here?' " Henderson said.

Schwary said there is no such thing as "TLC for Women" and that his employee was "probably misguided" to say that on her voice mail.

The 1045 E. Main St. building is a motel, and he would not deny a member of the public a room there "if we have space," he said. Under state law, no motel or hotel can discriminate on the basis of gender.

Schwary declined to reveal the addresses of all the motels or hotels he is using to house TLC clients.

"Why would I think it's a good idea to let the public know where we are and what we're doing?" Schwary said. "My experience with the public has never been good."

Group homes often draw negative reactions from neighbors, but city records show that complaints taper off over time. Officials said the services are critical for newly released prisoners, people on probation who need behavior adjustment and substance abusers who can't afford to go to pricey treatment centers.

Ortiz said her client who is on probation and staying at the motel is free to live on her own, but has mental problems and has been homeless recently.

"For her case, it's a wonderful place at this point," she said. "I feel it's better for her to be there than out on the streets."

Contact Ray Stern by email, or phone (480) 898-6405
 

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