Controversy over halfway houses goes to commission

Kris Hill

Monday, April 9, 2001 | 10:27 a.m.

County commissioners next month will hear a request to build a fourth halfway house in a neighborhood near Sandhill and Flamingo roads.

The county Planning Commission on Thursday voted to send the special use permit application for a house at 3880 Monthill Ave. to the County Commission.

The County Commission normally does not hear requests for special use permits, but planners said they did not have the authority to deny the application, as they wanted to.

A county ordinance requires a 660-foot separation between halfway houses. The new house would be 529 feet from the nearest halfway house.

But the county's attorney advised the Planning Commission it could not deny the application because to do so the county had to find a significant health or safety risk to the residents of the halfway houses, which staff members said had not been found.

The County Commission will hear the application on May 2.

Commissioners sympathized with residents who were concerned about the application that would allow a fourth halfway house to open in their neighborhood.

All of the homes proposed for halfway houses -- which are owned by Lorri Ahlm, her brother Phillip Ahlm and their mother Judy Nelson -- are within a half-mile radius in the Hazelcrest neighborhood near Flamingo and Sandhill.

Chairman Will Watson and Commissioner Doug Malan both said they wanted to deny the application.

Malan said he wanted to make sure the County Commission had the opportunity to review the application.