Holladay restricts types of group homes
The council, which unanimously passed an ordinance with the restrictions at its meeting this past week, limited group homes to those that house people with disabilities and prohibited homes with people who "would constitute a direct threat or substantial risk to the health or safety of the community," according to the ordinance.
The City Council deliberately left that language vague so that the state would interpret the meaning rather than the city, said Craig Hall, Holladay city attorney.
The group homes can have three people, but the council said in the ordinance that it would stretch that to accommodate up to five people per house for homes with disabled people.
The ordinance will not apply to Futures Through Choices, which is remodeling a house in Holladay and plans to open it to young men with troubled histories in about six weeks.
"We have no opposition to these group homes," said Councilman Lynn Pace, who represents the neighborhoods with the Futures Through Choices house. "We just want to make sure the neighborhood is safe, and this will give us the ability to make sure this happens."
The city settled parts of that lawsuit a month ago with an agreement from the company that it would not place sex offenders, violent offenders and predators. Instead, the company will place men from 16 to 21 who have had minor brushes with the law.
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