New Haven Independent

Youth Continuum, Inc., a non-profit agency that helps at-risk youth, recently bought a house (pictured below) at 4 Colony Rd., intending to turn it into a group home for five adolescent boys. The “therapeutic group home residence” would give kids a home with 24/7 care while they attend school, according to the agency website.

The house sits on an elegant street with well-landscaped, pricey homes. It’s a residential street, historically Jewish, now mixed with African-Americans. Many neighbors, hearing about the youth agency’s plans after it bought the house, shuddered at the news. They called a meeting last week with Youth Continuum staff. About 40 people showed up. Wednesday’s meeting drew a bigger crowd, who applauded with fervor and whispered in fear.

“There’s a special character to this neighborhood,” said Joshua Sandman. If that character’s altered, “people are going to vote with their feet.”

“I have little kids and I plan on having more,” said his daughter-in-law, Leah Sandman (pictured), who lives nearby. “Do I have to pick up and move?”

The group home would drag property values down, added Caplan. Many seemed to agree.

“Does anyone have any figures at all” to support that claim? stepped in a fired-up neighbor, Bill Morico. Keeping urban kids out of the neighborhood is discrimination. “These are the same exact words that were used against orthodox Jews, against blacks, against Hispanics. They are still used in other neighborhoods — that’s why we’re better.”

The room exploded — “This is not an issue of racism!” “This is an attack on the Jews in this neighborhood and it’s not acceptable!”

What may end up counting is not that charged emotional debate, but a more technical legal one. Livable City Initiative chief Andrew Rizzo (pictured at left) told the room that zoning complications might throw a wrench in the agency’s plans. The boys are considered “disabled,” which grants them the right to live in a small group home, but city zoning law prohibits such homes from clustering together.

Reading a letter from the state Department of Children and Families, which funds and licenses Youth Continuum’s homes, Rizzo said the boys are considered “disabled” due to “behavioral problems.” Neighbors questioned the definition of “disability.” Is that just a way to slip through zoning restrictions? asked one. Youth Continuum staff couldn’t be reached late Wednesday and were not at the meeting.

Babz Rawls-Ivy, the ward’s alderwoman, stood up to defend the proposed home. “These children suffered significant trauma and were removed from their families.” They’re not delinquents or runaways, she said.

“They’re sugarcoating!” whispered a voice in the back of the room.

By state law, “disability” status, mental or physical, enables six or fewer people plus a staff member to live together in a residential zone. Unless — as in this case — there’s another group home within 1,000 feet nearby. A Department of Mental Retardation home sits less than 500 feet away, said Rizzo.

So the agency is going to have to rush to the Board of Zoning Appeals if it wants to open house in the summer. There, it will have to argue in front of the board, and an army of opponents, why it has “hardship” enough to warrant an exception to city zoning law. Rizzo predicted this obstacle would be too large. “They’re not going to be on Colony Road.”

Neighbors, including Caplan, promised to show up to the BZA in force. She wants to protect the area from an influx of group facilities, which she noted are already popping up all over the city. “What if it’s sober houses coming in? Is that the neighborhood we want?”

Aldermanic President Carl Goldfield, who recently saw a sober house pop up on his own street in Beaver Hills, questioned why these folks should be exiled. We can’t push them out to the suburbs. People who live at his neighboring sober house walk to work. They’re here for “the same reason we live in New Haven — access to resources.”