On Tuesday Jan. 2, the City of Costa Mesa filed legal action in Orange County Superior Court against the owner and operators of three large sober living homes operating in violation of the city’s ordinances.

“We have enacted the strongest ordinances in the state to regulate sober living homes,” Mayor Sandy Genis said. “We filed this legal action to compel compliance with our ordinances and to protect the residential character of our neighborhoods for the benefit of all Costa Mesa residents.”

In the legal action, the city is asking the court for a preliminary and permanent injunction and nuisance abatement against the sober living operators, Morningside Recovery, LLC, True Recovery, Inc., the Discovery House, LLC. The complaint states that the operators failed to obtain a conditional use permit and didn’t even apply for one.

The owner of the homes, Barry Saywitz Properties One, LP, Barry Saywitz Properties Two, LP and Barry Saywitz as an individual are also named in the complaint. The properties at issue are 1798 Pomona Ave., 2558 Orange Ave. and 2964 Peppertree Lane.

The Pomona Avenue property is being used as a group home consisting of 14-16 recovery beds. The Orange Avenue property is a group home consisting of four, two-story condominiums that house people recovering from alcohol and/or drug addiction, and the Peppertree Lane property is four two-story condominiums that also operates as a group home for people recovering from alcohol and/or drug addiction.

For more information on sober living issues in Costa Mesa and to learn more about the city’s sober living ordinances click here.