Neighborhood opposition forms over another recovery house in Wichita

Another Oxford House for recovering alcoholics and drug addicts is facing opposition, this time from some residents in a north Wichita neighborhood.

At a District Advisory Board meeting Monday night, several residents voiced concern that the recovery house is close to a house for young mothers. It puts mothers who are “very vulnerable teenagers” close to men dealing with addictions, Veronica Casados said.

Her husband, Leo Casados, said members of the house would be “risky.”

The opponents also questioned how the 2,086-square-foot house could have eight bedrooms, according to plans.

The issue will come before the Wichita-Sedgwick County Metropolitan Area Planning Commission on Thursday. The meeting, on the 10th floor at Wichita City Hall, will begin at 1:30 p.m.

The question now is whether the owners of the house at 1055 W. 31st St. North. should receive what’s called a “conditional use” to allow for a “group residence, limited.” The conditional use would allow nine men in recovery to live at the house under the Oxford House program.

Oxford House is a nationwide program that uses privately owned houses for people in recovery to live together and share duties. The idea is to help people stay sober and be good neighbors.

Under the Oxford House program, each house operates autonomously with a charter and rents from a landlord.

A Metropolitan Area Planning Commission staff report recommends that the conditional use be denied because it wouldn’t fit with the single-family-home population density. Under the zoning code, a “group residence, limited is for six to 15 people.” Typical examples include fraternity or sorority houses, dormitories, residence halls, lodging houses, children’s homes and emergency shelters for the homeless or victims of crime, abuse and neglect, according to the staff report.

On Monday night, members of a District Advisory Board that advises the Wichita City Council met at Evergreen Recreation Center and voted 9-1 against a conditional use sought by Metal Arts Properties LLC. Metal Arts is listed in the Planning Commission staff report as the owners of the Oxford House on West 31st Street North. Representatives of the owners didn’t come to the meeting.

At the meeting, City Council member Janet Miller said the question was not whether an Oxford House could be there but how many residents it could have. The item will eventually go to the City Council.

Dustin Gray, a spokesman for the owners of the house, said it is known as Oxford House Wedgewood. It is set up to have a maximum of nine people living there “and has been … that way for at least 14 years,” Gray said in an email. “We feel it should be allowed to continue at those levels.”

Gray said it was the second Oxford House to open in Wichita “and is now the oldest one in Wichita.”

There are nearly 30 Oxford Houses across Wichita.

The Wedgewood house had seven residents as of Saturday and might have had eight residents on Monday, he said. “The number of residents will fluctuate but does not go above 9 members,” Gray said in an email.

This past spring, some residents of a College Hill neighborhood opposed an Oxford House that opened at 260 N. Quentin. It was to have eight residents in recovery.

College Hill residents expressed concerns about how a recovery house would affect property values, safety and parking. A leader of the Quentin house said it would have no more than eight residents and that it had canceled initial plans to accept people directly from prison.

This story was originally published August 2, 2016 at 2:29 PM with the headline "Neighborhood opposition forms over another recovery house in Wichita."