A.

This section defines a process to inform the citizens of residential neighborhoods when group homes are established and operated within their boundaries. This process supplements state licensing and regulatory procedures.

B.

Pre-Establishment Operating Plan.

1.

A group home shall provide an operating statement to director no less than 90 days prior to the date on which it plans to commence operations. "Commence operations" shall mean the first day during which it receives a client for residence at the facility.

2.

Operating Plan. The operating plan shall include, but is not limited to, the following:

a.

A complete description of the facilities, its clients, staff and operating structure, its proposed operating conditions and the terms and conditions of any state license required for its operation.

b.

A statement regarding how the proposed facility will be operated to promote the purposes and guidelines of the parish-wide planning policies adopted by Ascension Parish.

c.

A financial statement and staffing plan for the proposed facility, including but not limited to the manner and method by which clients are referred to, accepted to and/or ordered to take up residence at the facility.

d.

The addresses of each funding, licensing or operating entity involved in the operation.

e.

Business license and fire inspection.

3.

The director shall review the statement for accuracy, completeness and objectivity before releasing it to the public. An informational meeting shall be scheduled 20 days after the director provides written notification to persons residing within 300 feet of the facility of the availability of the statement for review by the public. The informational meeting shall be held at the convenience of the neighborhood in a location convenient to its residents.

4.

Information Meeting. The director shall conduct the informational meeting with a representative of the group home and the residents of the neighborhood. The director shall notify all landowners within 1,000 feet of the proposed group home within 15 calendar days before the informational meeting. Notices of the meeting and an invitation to attend it shall also be provided to all entities shown on the operating plan as providing substantial contributions to the group home or licensing its operations. The director shall make every effort to encourage the funding and licensing representatives to attend.

5.

Nothing in this process shall be interpreted to prohibit a group home from enjoying its primary permitted use rights.

C.

Complaint Procedures and Facilitated Meeting.

1.

In the event that the parish received complaints of persons residing at three or more residences located within 300 feet of the facility, the director shall schedule a public meeting under the notice procedures of the preceding section. The director shall make every effort to encourage the funding and licensing representatives to attend.

2.

The meeting shall be conducted as a community service by the parish to facilitate the understanding of the community regarding the operations of the facility and to provide a convenient forum for members of the neighborhood in which the group home is located to express their concerns regarding its maintenance, upkeep, or operations to the appropriate operating, funding and licensing entities.

3.

The director's role shall be to facilitate the sharing of information and nothing herein shall be interpreted as authorization to block the entry of a properly licensed state facility into a neighborhood; provided, however, that halfway houses are not permitted uses in any residential zone of the parish and these provisions are not a limitation of the parish's other zoning powers with regard to such halfway houses.

D.

Neighborhood Mediation.

1.

Operators of group homes and members of neighborhoods are encouraged to utilize available dispute resolution in the event that reasonable dialogue between neighbors and facilities cannot resolve the problems involved in the operation of the group home.

E.

Civil Enforcement Procedure.

1.

Failure to file a pre-establishment plan as provided in this section 17-2047: Group homes, shall be a civil violation subject to enforcement.

(DC03-01, 1/9/03; DC09-09, 12/17/09)