******Long Post Alert******
There are several kinds of "Care Homes" that are legal as "accepted uses" within Greensboro's zoning ordinances. Each one of them has its own definition in the City's Code: Maternal Care Home, Family Care Home, Group Care Facility et al.
Zoning ordinances restrict the density of each type of Care Home to within 1/4 mile of each other. In other words, no two Maternal Care Homes can be established within a 1/4 mile radius of each other, but, a Maternal Care Home can legally exist next door to, say, a Group Care Facility. The exception is that under 30-5-2.55.5 a Maternal Home and a Family Care Home cannot operate within the 1/4 mile radius... I tell you that to tell you this.
The Aycock Neighborhood is blessed with "Care Homes" and we have all coexisted harmoniuosly for many years. The excelllent Summit House Group Care Facility on Summit Avenue is a very succesful alternative sentencing program that keeps families together. The newer Room At The Inn (scroll down) on Park Avenue is a pregnancy crisis "Maternal Care" home that transformed the old Sternberger mansion into a great property about two years ago. In addition to these we have other "halfway houses" of various descriptions scattered throughout the neighborhood.. As I said, Aycock is doing its share of helping families and individuals re-integrate into the community.
Anyway... Aycock is being asked to absorb two more "Care Homes" and we will probably get labeled as "naysayers" if we attempt to stop them... but we are pretty used to that.
Yesterday, in an unposted article the N&R reported that Room at the Inn is rehabilitating an historic duplex next door to their current facility. This new facility named Amy's House will be rented to Room at the Inn clients and "will become a transitional home for four women after they deliver their babies" according to the article.. in other words... it will become another "Maternal Home" under the ordinance. They are located twenty feet from each other.
Back in January, Summit House bought a single family home across the street from their current facility for a similar purpose. To be used as a "transitional home", this Charter Place property is rented to women who have completed their "incarceration" at Summit House.
The key word in the establishment of both transitional homes is "rent".
In an email exchange between Aycock Neighborhood Board of Directors president David Wharton and Greensboro Zoning Administrator Bill Ruska - the City has determined that the Summit House expansion (and thus the Room at the Inn expansion) follow the letter of the law because the additional facilities are charging rent to their clients. We are considering appealing the City's ruling because the spirit of the law is clearly being violated in our opinion.
A similar situation arose in 2001 between the Delancey Street program and the Fisher Park Association. Delancey Street purchased a property for a transitional rental home in close proximity to their current abode and a zoning fight ensued. In the end Judge Catherine Eagle sided with the neighborhood and the expansion was not allowed.
The Zoning Department was reminded of this case by Wharton, "...in Delancey Street's case, the City ruled against Delancey Street, as did the Historic Preservation Commission, the Board of Adjustment, and Superior Court Judge Catherine Eagles."
Zoning head Bill Ruska replied with this terse message, "Previous decision about 513 Charter Place stands. If you want to take this to the Board of Adjustment asking for an interpretation, you will have to file the formal paperwork and pay the application fee which is $125.00." The Aycock Board voted to appeal Ruska's opinion last month.
Folks here in Aycock are used to fighting for our neighborhood but this zoning ruling defies common sense. The City, in all of its forms, sided with Fisher Park in a very similar situation, but we are going to have to take on City Hall... again... to protect our neighborhood. All we are asking is that "Care Homes" be equally distributed throughout the City like the ordinances intended and the courts have upheld.
I suspect that Sunset Hills, Starmount, Adams Farm and other neighborhoods have few or no Care Homes in their midst - let's spread the wealth a little. Aycock is already carrying its fair share of group homes with pride.. its someone else's turn.
Full disclosure: A partnership that I am involved with renovated and sold the 513 Charter Place property to Summit House back in January. I made my concerns about the zoning question known to three members of their Board of Directors both during the sales negotiations and before closing. They moved forward because they said they had checked on the zoning issue and were confident that they were complying with all ordinances. I made the Aycock Board of Directors (upon which I serve) aware of the impending sale in the same fashion.
10:50:23 AM 
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