College Park may tighten rules for group living facility requests after homeowners say they weren't notified

College Park Councilwoman Dr. Jamelle McKenzie said several homeowners in Ward 1 recently contacted her after discovering their addresses were included in a request for reasonable accommodation to establish group personal care living facilities and, potentially, sober living facilities.

The request involved properties on Ridgeway Avenue, Rugby Avenue and Lyle Avenue.

McKenzie said residents told her they never received notification or letters informing them that their addresses would be considered as part of the request.

"At that time, I contacted the city attorney and the city manager to let them know I did not approve of that," McKenzie said. "I asked the city manager to remove it from the agenda, but it was after the agenda had gone out."

The College Park City Council voted to remove the item from its May 18 meeting agenda.

McKenzie said she was troubled that an application involving residential properties could move forward without the property owners' knowledge.

"I was really concerned about how a company could even apply for such an application and accommodation without informing the homeowner. The homeowner needs to give permission and say I am okay with it," Dr. McKenzie said.

According to McKenzie, several of the properties involved were in the process of being sold.

"I know that two of them were about to be listed," she told CBS News Atlanta. "Maybe they were showing up in the MLS but there had not been a formal sale from the property owner to the new owner  at the time that these applications were applied for."

McKenzie said the neighborhood is not currently zoned for that type of use, prompting the request for a reasonable accommodation.

The issue is expected to return to the City Council during its Aug. 3 meeting, when leaders will consider changes to the city's procedures.

"We are going to revisit this application and procedural process," she said. "We have drafted an ordinance because there was not an ordinance governing these types of circumstances."

If approved, the ordinance would establish formal rules for how future requests involving group living facilities are reviewed and what notification requirements applicants must meet before they are considered by the city.