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I1 -H Residential Care f=acilities <br />Sufficient funding and oversight is needed to ensure that residents living in residential care <br />facilities have appropriate care and supervision, and that neighborhoods are not <br />disproportionately impacted by high concentrations of residential care facilities. Under <br />current law, operators of certain residential care facilities are not required to notify cities <br />when they intend to purchase single - family housing for this purpose. Cities do not have the <br />authority to regulate the locations of group homes and residential care facilities. Cities <br />have reasonable concerns about high concentrations of these facilities in residential <br />neighborhoods, and additional traffic and service deliveries surrounding these facilities <br />when they are grouped closely together. Municipalities recognize and support the services <br />residential care facilities provide. However, cities also have an interest in preserving <br />balance between group homes and other uses in residential neighborhoods. <br />Providers applying to operate residential care facilities should be required to notify the city <br />when applying for licensure so as to be informed of local ordinance requirements as a part <br />of the application process. Licensing agencies should be required to notify the city of <br />properties receiving licensure to be operated as residential care facilities. Cities should <br />have statutory authority to require licensed agencies and licensed providers that operate <br />residential care facilities to notify the city of properties being operated as residential care <br />facilities. The Legislature should also require the establishment of non - concentration <br />standards not unlike those available to the core cities for residential care facilities to <br />prevent clustering and require the appropriate county agencies to enforce these rules. <br />11-1. Annexation <br />The 2006 Legislature created the Municipal Boundary Adjustment Task Force to study and <br />make recommendations on what, if any, changes should be made to the law governing <br />municipal boundary adjustments. The task force was charged with developing <br />recommendations regarding best practices annexation training for city and township <br />officials to better communicate and jointly plan potential annexations. The report from the <br />Municipal Boundary Adjustment Task Force to study and make recommendations on what, <br />if any, changes should be made to the law governing municipal boundary adjustments was <br />published in February of 2009. While the task force was able to define the differences <br />between cities and townships on the issue of annexation, no significant advancements were <br />made in creating best practices. Metro Cities supports continued legislative investigations <br />into developing recommendations regarding best practices annexation training for city and <br />township officials to better communicate and jointly plan potential annexations. Further, <br />Metro Cities supports substantive changes to the state's annexation law that will lead to <br />better land -use planning, energy conservation, greater environmental protection, fairer tax <br />bases, and fewer conflicts between townships and cities. Metro Cities also supports <br />technical annexation changes that have been agreed to by cities and townships. <br />2011 Legislative Policies 11 <br />