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Will 'Sober Living' Home Permit Denial Lead to Closings Across City?

By  Alisa Hauser and Ted Cox | June 1, 2015 9:19am 

 Lenny Goldfarb, A Fresh Start's CEO, making a case to keep his boarding house in operation at 530 N. Marshfield Ave.  The city's zoning board of appeals unanimously voted to deny the permit.
Lenny Goldfarb, A Fresh Start's CEO, making a case to keep his boarding house in operation at 530 N. Marshfield Ave. The city's zoning board of appeals unanimously voted to deny the permit.
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DNAinfo/Ted Cox

CITY HALL — A company that rents out beds in single-family homes to recovering addicts in Chicago says it is investigating whether federal housing laws were broken when a city zoning board unanimously refused to give them a permit for a West Town facility.

The company, A Fresh Start, was denied a permit last week by the Zoning Board of Appeals.

Steven Polin, a Washington, D.C.-based attorney for A Fresh Start, said,  "We will be reviewing our legal options to determine whether there have been violations of the [Federal Fair Housing Act] and, if there are, we will act accordingly,"

"We are very disappointed in the decision," Polin added.

Some believe the permit denial for West Town may put the company's ten other similar homes in jeopardy.

For more than two years, A Fresh Start's for-profit boarding houses have been operating without permits or other city approval in several Chicago neighborhoods — despite objections from neighbors and ire from politicians such as Ald. Scott Waguespack (32nd), who asked that the homes get permits like any other for-profit businesses operating in a residentially-zoned area.

Neighbors say the homes attract a transient population responsible for conflict and excessive smoking.

A home at 530 N. Marshfield Ave., owned by Maria and Jeff Fletcher and rented by A Fresh Start, was targeted by a group of frustrated West Town residents and brought before the city zoning board last Thursday in an effort to make the company acquire a permit to operate a for-profit community group home for up to 12 men, ages 18 to 70.

Lenny Goldfarb, owner of A Fresh Start, which operates 11 homes in Chicago, appeared before the Zoning Board of Appeals on Thursday.

Goldfarb has stated the goal of his business is “to save people’s lives,” though he told the board “we don’t do any kind of treatment."

In effect, the addicts are on the honor system to stay sober. The staff, Goldfarb said, was largely made up of volunteers who are also recovering addicts who earn free rooms for managing the houses.

Goldfarb's company takes in as much as $1.2 million from its 11 homes, estimated John Pikarski, an attorney representing a coalition of residents opposed to A Fresh Start, based on a base rate of $175 a week per resident. Goldfarb said that’s not accounting for vacant rooms, but allowed it as a general estimate.

Goldfarb pays $4,000 a month to rent the Marshfield property, owned by Maria and Jeff Fletcher, who began renting out their home to AFS 15 months ago. If the property houses 12 residents, AFS would be earning $8,400 a month from the house.

Waguespack heralded the board's decision and sees it as a promising sign to rein in other A Fresh Start houses, including one at 2128 N. Winchester Ave. in Bucktown. The alderman has pushed for the Zoning Board of Appeals to address that house a number of times.

"The city should just be ready to do that, for all of the [A] Fresh Start houses. This will make the city exercise the appropriate path. Home rule allows us to set the zoning code that every other business has to follow," Waguespack said.

Ald. Joe Moreno (1st), who encouraged residents to come to the meeting to testify, whether in support or in opposition, said he was "against the applicant," adding, "It’s not about the mission, it’s about the operation.”

A previous community meeting showed that strange goings-on are “well-documented,” Moreno said. According to the alderman, there have been “up to 15 people in that single-family home,” as well as “drug paraphernalia found outside” and reports of a 10-year-old girl who lives next door being photographed by residents, who also are “outside at all hours of the night."

He called it “quite frankly, a menace to that block of the neighborhood," adding, "They’re not a good operator.”

Moreno said he would be keeping an eye on the business, and it’s “absolutely” a nuisance in the ward. He previously tried to raise the issue of its “deleterious impact” at a neighborhood meeting in 2012 when the home was opening, only to discover they don’t have a license to revoke. But he cheered a continuing lawsuit filed against the business by area residents.

“I’m glad that the [Zoning Board of Appeals] agreed with me and the community," Moreno said.

Lyn Wolfson, president of Chicago Grand Neighbors Association, which played host to a large community meeting earlier this month to form a battle plan for the hearing, said that neighbors are happy with the board's ruling.

"We're pleased on behalf of the community and happy that the ZBA listened to both sides," said Wolfson.

When asked if A Fresh Start will be evicted from the home, Wolfson said, "Now that [the permit] has been denied, if they continue to live there, the alderman might have some authority to do something like that."

At a meeting last week, Michael Franz, a lawyer who lives across the street from the home and who joined Pikarski in representing the neighbors, predicted that if A Fresh Start failed to get a permit to operate at 530 N. Marshfield Ave., it would have "a domino effect on all the other locations."

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