Petersburg Planning Commission recommends definitions for group homes, assisted living facilities
PETERSBURG — In recent months, news coverage on squalid conditions at a group home on West Fillmore Street has brought attention to how the city manages approval and placement of these facilities within neighborhoods. As it turns out, what constitutes a group home or assisted living facility in Petersburg has never clearly been defined in code.
Until now.
Thursday night, the Petersburg Planning Commission unanimously voted to recommend definitions for "group homes" and "assisted living facilities" be adopted by City Council. The terms are often interchanged, but there is a difference between the two. People who live in a group-home setting are expected to be able to manage their own personal care, while those in assisted living are tended to by trained staffs who manage both their personal care and aspects of their daily lives.
The proposed Petersburg definition is based upon the Code of Virginia, city planning manager Reginald Tabor told commissioners Thursday night at the Petersburg Public Library.
Group homes would be limited to eight residents, and would be for either for people with developmental disabilities, or infirmed seniors and other adults. The state Department of Behavioral Health and Development Services would be responsible for licensing the location for residents with developmental issues, and the Department of Social Services would handle licensing the other classification.
The developmental disabilities would not include substance abuse.
An assisted living facility would house more than eight residents "not related by blood or marriage" whose daily needs would have to be tended to by a full-time staff. It could only be set up with a special use permit from City Council.
During a public hearing before the commission, several citizens spoke in favor of having clear-cut definitions for group homes and assisted living facilities.
Jefferson Street resident Kristen Katzenbach recalled instances where mentally disabled residents of a group home near her house have gotten out and wandered the streets. One woman, she said, walked into her yard, sat down in a chair and demanded that Katzenbach and her husband buy her unwrapped graham crackers. It was only after they threatened to call authorities that the woman left.
"The residents openly swear, fight and threaten each other in their front yard right there by the park where children are," Katzenbach said. Having definitions in place, she and the other speakers said, will help set guidelines on how the group homes would be managed and controlled by the owners.
The recommendation now goes to City Council for consideration. According to next week's council work session agenda, councilors are being asked to set a March 21 public hearing on those recommendations.
Bill Atkinson (he/him/his) is an award-winning journalist who covers breaking news, government and politics. Reach him at batkinson@progress-index.com or on Twitter at @BAtkinson_PI.
This article originally appeared on The Progress-Index: Petersburg City Council asked to define 'group homes' in the city
