Agenda - Council - 04/25/1995 - Laserfiche WebLink

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CASE DISCUSSION REGARDING LICENSING GROUP HOMES By: Zoning Administrator Sylvia Frolik Background: The City Council ~has directed Staff to research the possibility of licensing group foster care homes within the commu~ty. As a brief backgrognd on the subject, foster homes are licensed through the Minnesota Department of Human Service~ (DHS) or the Department of Corrections (DOC). DHS foster homes generally serve the mentall~ ill, handicapped, or neglected and abused children. DOC foster homes serve children with d~linquent behavior that the courts have determined do not require institutionalizatio/~. There is an agreement between the DHS and the DOC wherein juvenile delinquents can b~ placed in a DHS licensed home and vice versa; however, the majority of children in any ond foster home must be of the category under which the foster home was licensed -- DHS or DOC. State law establish. :s that State licensed residential facilities serving six or fewer persons, a licensed day care facility s{xving 12 or fewer persons, and a group family day care facility serving 14 or fewer children sh~ 11 be considered a permitted single family residential use of property. State licensed residentia facilities serving from 7 to 16 persons or a day care facility serving from 13 through 16 personsfshall be considered a permitted multifamily residential use of property. A copy of this statute is enclosed for your information. Observations: Since day care and', foster homes are permitted by State statute, the only benefit to local licensing would be the knov4edge of their whereabouts. If the concern is with DOC group homes, there is legislation taking a~fect August 1, 1995 that requires the DOC to notify cities 30 days in advance of license issuance o4 foster homes coming into the community. State given fights to DOC foster homes are maintained under the new legislation; it doesn't give the City any leverage to recommend State denial of the ltcense. In addition, there is a possibility that State law prohibits dual licensing. This aspect is being researched and Staff. will have an answer for the Finance Committee on April 25. The State statute that gives the Dept., ment of Corrections the authority to license foster homes does not contain provisions for any ~ther entity to be involved in that licensing process. The cities of Andoger, Brooklyn Park, Coon Rapids, Plymouth, Minneapolis, and Bloomington were contacted and all of them treat day care and foster homes as Ramsey does. They defer to State guidelines wi~h respect to permitted uses and number of persons served, do not require local licensing, and only ~equire conditional use permits when the foster home proposes to serve more persons for their respective zoning district than established by state guidelines. If in fact the City c~ require licensing, then day cares should be included in the requirement so as not to be considered discriminatory. This would be a considerable addition to City Staff workload and without in-hou~e expertise in the area of sociology, any license requirements would most likely be a duplication of the DHS, DOC or Anoka County. Most of the communities contacted agree that regulating foster homes should be left to the State as their occurrence or locations are not highly concentrated and cities do not have the expertise to address the social aspects; and when