Tensions over the idea of eight people recovering from addiction living in a 4,500-square-foot house in College Park are touching on questions beyond zoning or land use.

What responsibility does a community have to people rebuilding their lives, and how should that responsibility be weighed against neighbors’ concerns about safety and property values?

On Tuesday, College Park city council postponed until October a vote on a reasonable zoning accommodation request from Halcyon House. The request is to allow up to eight unrelated people to live at 2041 English Lane, which is a quiet residential neighborhood.

Attorney Ian Neubauer, legal counsel for Halcyon House Recovery Residences, said sober houses often must “operate in the shadows.” Halcyon has houses in Sandy Springs, Roswell and Grant Park, he said.

“We have to weave our way through ordinances,” he added. “As an attorney, I am hard-pressed to find cities and counties that we can legally operate out in the open and [receive a] ‘Welcome.’”

Last year, council denied the request during an executive session. Halcyon House challenged the decision in Fulton County Superior Court, and Judge Scott McAfee, in disagreement with the city, sent the matter back to College Park for consideration in a public hearing.

Halcyon and College Park

According to Neubauer, fellow attorney Andrew Tine and Halcyon supporters, a successful sober house requires enough residents to function as a group, holding one another accountable and practicing abstinence. The home would serve as the last step in recovery before residents live independently. The home would also operate under standards established by the Georgia Association of Recovery Residences and the National Alliance for Recovery Residences.

During Tuesday’s public hearing, residents raised concerns about safety, traffic and parking, as well as the potential effect on property values. Former Councilman Ambrose Clay suggested establishing a fund to compensate nearby homeowners if their property values decline.

Halcyon supporters said that such concerns reflect the stigma that continues to surround addiction and recovery. Among them was Bill Crane, a former College Park communications director, who said that his brother died as a result of alcoholism and added that addiction touches many families. Neubauer shared that he is in recovery.

Neubauer said that residents in the other sober living houses would tell council: “We function as a family. We go to meetings together. We hold each other accountable. If someone is slipping, we pick them up, as a family does.”

Raising practical questions, resident Randy Godfrey asked whether the fire department had inspected and approved the property, how parking would affect the neighborhood and whether city staff had recommended approval or proposed conditions on Halcyon’s request.

City Planner Lenise Lyons said those issues were not addressed by staff because the reasonable accommodation request was not being considered as a zoning request.

The court, however, characterizes the matter differently. In its order, the court said consideration of Halcyon House’s reasonable zoning accommodation request constitutes a zoning decision because the application sought a special use or variance.

College Park had issued a cease-and-desist notice last October as if the sober house was in operation. In a response letter, Neubauer stated that Halcyon House had not begun operating at the home and that no residents had lived there.

Halcyon would be leasing the house from owner Ryan Kelly, who shouted as he addressed council in support of the recovery organization. Kelly said that more than eight members of his own family have lived in the house. He contrasted the city’s current concerns about the proposed sober living home with his previous tenants, who he said operated a “trap house.”

Kelly accused police of failing to respond to his repeated complaints about the tenants. He said he contacted the FBI, which led to the tenants vacating the premises within hours. Kelly said, drugs and bullets were left behind. Kelly also alleged that dog fighting had occurred at the property and that a pig had been eating the remains of dogs in his garage.

“You’re out here worried about a sober home,” Kelly said. “They run a trap house in there and you wouldn’t do anything about it.”

Concerns about Halcyon’s request also came from within the recovery community. Resident Brian Mathis told council that he is in recovery and worried about the limited space on English Lane.

“Capacity really is the issue here,” he said. “We are without sidewalks. We have limited parking, limited maneuvering space. We are a very narrow street. A fire truck cannot turn around in our cul-de-sac. The public works has to back up trucks because they cannot turn around on our street.”

Crane told council that while there are understandable concerns, he knows how sober house residents have become a part of the community they reside in.

His niece stayed at a Halcyon House in Sandy Springs where two residents came to the aid of a neighbor who suffered a heart attack, he said.

“Remember, they are people too,” Crane said. “Those people that take that path of recovery and stay on it, those are noble neighbors that I’d like to have in my neighborhood.”