Conforming Use Status of Residential Care Facility Back Before Board of Zoning Appeals This Week

The Board of Zoning Appeals will consider the city zoning administrator’s determination that the site of a proposed long-term healthcare provider did not lose its nonconforming use status as a residential care facility.

Pasadena Senior Villa Living wants to open a residential care facility at 1811 N. Raymond Ave., the previous location of the Pasadena Recovery Center.

However, senior living facilities are no longer zoned for the area, which means an assisted-living facility cannot operate there without first acquiring nonconforming use status.

The city revoked the site’s previous nonconforming use status in 2018 after the Pasadena Recovery Center shut down. The designation has not been used for 12 months.

But the city zoning administrator later determined that the nonconforming use had not expired.

“At the April 22, 2021 Board of Zoning Appeals meeting, staff gave a presentation on the Zoning Administrator’s February 18, 2021 determination that the use was not discontinued,” according to a city staff report.

At the meeting, representatives from the Pasadena Villa Senior Living gave a presentation with additional information on the continued use of the site as a residential care facility. At the conclusion of the meeting, the board requested evidence that Pasadena Recovery Center’s operations, as a licensed drug and alcohol treatment facility (a state licensed facility) and as a sober living facility (an unlicensed group care facility), met the criteria to be classified as Residential Care, General Land Use. A motion to continue the hearing was passed 3-2.

Nonconforming uses were established before the codes and policies that are in place today were approved, allowing businesses to operate outside of current regulations, including zoning codes.

An overconcentration of these types of facilities currently exists on North Fair Oaks Avenue, near Washington Boulevard, according to a city staff report.

In January, the City Council unanimously approved an amendment to the city’s zoning code that allows the city to terminate a local business’ nonconforming use status in the event of the revocation, termination, or suspension of any license or permit that is required in order to operate a nonconforming business.

The center was made famous by the reality television show “Celebrity Rehab With Dr. Drew.” On June 8, 2018, the California Department of Health Care Services (DHCS) suspended the license required to operate the facility after investigating the death of a patient and several other violations.
In February, the Planning Commission called for a review of the zoning administrator’s determination that a senior living facility did not lose its nonconforming status.
The meeting is scheduled for Thursday and can be viewed at https://us02web.zoom.us/j/81451790079.