The Planning and Zoning Commission got the ball rolling toward zoning regulations for detoxification facilities within the Town of Fountain Hills when it met on Nov. 8.

Members have plenty of questions they want Development Services Director John Wesley to research before moving on to the next step early next year.

Wesley noted in his staff report that Commission Chairman Peter Gray had suggested it might be appropriate for the town to act in a proactive manner to establish appropriate regulation before it is pressured into action by an application.

The discussion regarding the issue was triggered last spring when the town was addressing the definition of a hospital for the Zoning Ordinance. There were numerous concerns that a detoxification facility could be defined as a hospital and open the door to allow them in inappropriate zoning.

Also, at the time of that discussion town staff had been advised by Town Attorney Aaron Arnson that the town cannot legally prohibit such uses as detox facilities in the town.

Wesley said at this stage the objective is to establish a general path to follow in investigating the topic and involve citizen discussion and opinions to be considered in making a recommendation to the council.

Questions to be addressed include which zoning districts would be appropriate for such facilities. Wesley said the only likely choices are C-2, C-3, IND-1 and IND-2. These are commercial and industrial zoning districts that already allow for more intense uses.

Wesley said it is likely the regulations would require a special use permit for such a use to allow the commission and council to review plans and possibly require specific requirements of the applicant.

There are also questions regarding specific conditions for approval of such use, and there could be a wide range of items to consider such as separation requirements (parks, churches, schools, residential and certain types of businesses). These need to be discussed to address the needs of the community but not be overly burdensome to the applicant, Wesley said.

Resident John Meredith said such facilities are already operating within the town in homes leased within single family zoning districts. He said he has been told that their license from the state trumps local regulations, and the town has no will to see that corrected.

“They seem content to act as helpless victims,” Meredith said.

What Meredith is referring to are likely group homes which operate and are regulated differently than detoxification facilities. Group homes are regulated by the state and may also include elderly care facilities.

“We need to be really clear where we are going with this discussion,” Gray said. “We are not addressing sober living (group homes), we are looking at potential detoxification and rehabilitation facilities.”

Andy Bennett with Recovery Consultants said there is a need for such facilities within Fountain Hills and he appreciates the opportunity to have the discussion on the topic as to what these services look like. Bennett acknowledged that his firm represents Fountain Hills Recovery, which operates some sober houses in the community.

Resident Larry Meyers took issue with Bennett’s comments saying these are not people from Fountain Hills. He said many are given the choice of jail or going to rehab.

“These are not our neighbors, and we should not allow them to have people shipped into our neighborhoods,” Meyers said. “If you don’t deal with this, they will overrun us.”

Wesley said he has a general timeline of how he wants to address the issue. He will receive input from staff based on the initial comments and requests he heard at the Nov. 8 meeting. In January he would hope to open the discussion to public comment and further discussion by the commission.

The discussion would continue into the February P&Z meeting taking additional comments regarding staff research and preliminary findings.

This could pave the way for a proposed ordinance to present with a public hearing in March or April of 2022.

This is a situation where both state and federal law may limit the ability of the Town to establish its own regulations.

During this discussion, The Times will work to provide the public with information pertaining to the subject with a series of articles as they can be presented.