Audience concerns over halfway houses and other group living arrangements popping up in neighborhoods prompted Temecula council members Tuesday night, March 12, to delay the approval of an ordinance that would bring the city into compliance with state law.

The delay marks the second time in recent months that a debate over housing densities and potential neighborhood impacts was continued to provide additional time to examine concerns and research the city’s legal options. It is now possible that both of the housing controversies will return before the council on April 9.

The Tuesday night stalemate came after a one-hour hearing in which seven audience members questioned or criticized a staff recommendation aimed at making it easier to open facilities that would house more than six people who could be homeless, on parole, or seeking drug, alcohol or mental health treatment.

City staff defended the proposed changes by noting that Temecula could be successfully sued and ordered to pay damages or suffer other legal consequences for failing to adopt the existing state group home standards.

"The city has no regulatory authority to stop that," Patrick Richardson, the city’s director of community development, said at one point during the hearing. "I’m not going to sugar-coat this. It is a major change in state law."

The change took effect several years ago, Richardson said, but the city was able to delay adoption of an ordinance until the time came to update the housing element of its general plan.

Some council members countered that Temecula might instead benefit from increasing group housing options for the elderly or residents with low incomes or those who seek to live independently despite autism, Down’s syndrome or other difficulties.

"We’re talking about the ability of somebody to live," said Mayor Mike Naggar, who in the past has cited the challenges faced by his autistic son. "It doesn’t have to be as negative as it has been portrayed."

Councilman Chuck Washington noted that the city, even if it conforms with state law, can use its code enforcement program Advertisement

[ The Tutoring Center ] or file a complaint with the state if health, safety or other violations are detected at a specific residential care facility.

"We enforce that. We come down with a heavy hand on that," Washington said. "We don’t have to allow nuisance activity."

In the end, the council opted to delay a vote for more than a month in order to give City Attorney Peter Thorson time to study various legal issues and examine how other municipalities have adapted to the state requirements.

The delay could also enable two councilmen who were absent Tuesday night to add their voices to the mix. Councilmen Ron Roberts and Jeff Comerchero missed Tuesday’s meeting because they were attending a National League of Cities conference.

It is possible that the proposed group housing changes will be debated the same night as a contentious plan to wedge a 120-unit apartment project onto a 7.2-acre site east of Interstate 15.

The controversies are reminiscent of similar clashes over density, growth and neighborhood impacts that routinely unfolded in Temecula prior to a development industry meltdown about five years ago.

Opposition to the proposed apartment complex has intensified in recent months, and the council on Feb. 26 again postponed a decision in order to examine remaining legal and planning issues.

A trio of attorneys, a handful of consultants and about a dozen residents alternately criticized or praised the apartments that would flank Mira Loma Drive and Rancho Vista Road near Vail Elementary School.

The controversial apartment plan calls for the construction of eight three-story residential buildings consisting of 40 one-bedroom units and 80 two-bedroom units. Those buildings, as well as a 2,660-square-foot recreational center, would fill much of the site that contains the shuttered Carden Academy educational facility.

In 2007, the council approved a zoning change for the site that would have allowed the construction of 62 single-family condominiums. That project would have a density of 8.4 units per acre, according to a city staff report. The proposed apartment project would nearly double that density.