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BOOK 69 PAc-204 <br />this type of use. The applicant is currently investigating the <br />possibility of connecting to the City wastewater system. <br />5. The group home could be changed into a half -way house. <br />Staff's Response: The site plan ordinance and administrative <br />permit criteria would prohibit any transfer of ownership or change <br />of use without further review, notice to surrounding property <br />owners, and approval by the appropriate County body. <br />6. The group home is located close to Vero Beach Elementary and <br />Vero Beach High schools, with associated high pedestrian and <br />vehicular traffic. <br />Staff's Response: The proposed• group home is a low traffic <br />generator and would generate about as much traffic as a single <br />family home. As to impact on the proposed home from the schools, <br />this would be comparable to the impact on a single-family house. <br />7. The group home would substantially change the character of <br />the -neighborhood and would decrease property values. <br />Staff's Response: This group home should function and appear like <br />any other single family residence. Information provided to the <br />Planning and Zoning Commission included an excerpt from the Mental <br />Health Law Project report, a publication which addresses the <br />effect of group homes on property values. The report, a copy of <br />which is included in the attached minutes, condenses many studies <br />which show no negative compatibility or property devaluation <br />effects of group homes for the mentally handicapped in single <br />family neighborhoods. Since the group home must be compatible <br />with adjacent properties, it will not change the character of the <br />area. <br />RECOMMENDATION: <br />Based on the staff's analysis, it is recommended that the Board of <br />County Commissioners uphold the decision of the Planning and <br />Zoning Commission to grant the Association for Retarded Citizens <br />administrative permit approval for a Level I group home. <br />Chairman Scurlock believed this issue is a substantial one <br />in that we probably will have a number of group homes of various <br />types coming before the Board and advised that he has discussed <br />this matter at length with the new Executive Director of the <br />Association for Retarded Citizens, who has recently relocated <br />here from California. The Chairman had no problem with the <br />concept of group homes, but he did have a problem with their <br />intensity and where they are located. He believed there is a lot <br />of misunderstanding about group homes and that we will have to do <br />a lot of educating to show the general public just what we are <br />talking about. It seems everyone is for such facilities just as <br />long as they aren't in their neighborhood. His only question on <br />this one is the intensity, which is proposed at 8, and he would <br />22 <br />