The Trenton Times published the following article on March 22, 2013. To read the full article, click here.

Trenton officials say recently opened sober living house lacks zoning approvals

By Erin Duffy/The Times of Trenton 
on March 22, 2013 at 8:10 AM

TRENTON — City officials have barred operators of a home for recovering addicts from opening a sober house for 25 men until the project is approved by the city zoning board.

City inspections director Cleveland Thompson said this week he knew nothing about Temperance Hall, a transitional living house that held an open house last week attended by Mayor Tony Mack, until a story appeared in The Times last Saturday.

City officials soon realized the project didn’t have a certificate of occupancy or the necessary zoning approvals to operate, Thompson said.

Allen Sassman, who, with brother Brian, is one of the for-profit operators of Temperance Hall, said he attended a Project Application Review Committee meeting with city zoning and planning officers yesterday and was told he’d have to present his plans to the city zoning board, a process that could take two to three months.

Sassman had planned to begin moving residents into the Rutgers Place sober living house by the end of next week. He’s received nearly a dozen calls this week alone from people trying to get their friends or family members placed in the house, which accepts men over 18 who have recently completed a 28-day stint in rehab and provides them with a sober, supportive environment, at a cost of about $650 a month.

“They’re putting up all these roadblocks,” Sassman said.

While the zoning board can’t consider whether a sober house is the best use for the property — group homes for people with disabilities, in this case, addiction, are protected under the federal Fair Housing Act — the board is asking to see architectural plans and will have to grant preliminary and final site plan approval and agree on the number of residents allowed to live there. Sassman has said he’s looking to house 25 men in the 5,000-square foot house.

Asked why he didn’t make sure the city signed off on the project beforehand, Sassman said he didn’t think he needed city approvals considering sober houses are considered single-family residences under the Fair Housing Act. The house is currently zoned for mixed-use, a category that includes residential housing and he didn’t make any major modifications to the building, which was a residence in the early 20th century and more recently held law offices. The building already had a kitchen, bathrooms and other features of single-family homes, he said.

But he was told this week the city needs to approve any change of use for the property.

Sassman said he was worried any delays could push back the opening of Temperance Hall, a project that he, as a recovering addict himself, has thrown himself into.

“There’s a passion I have behind this, that’s why it’s so frustrating,” he said.

Sassman is also planning on opening up a Temperance Hall house for women in Levittown, Pa. and two residences in Lambertville.

For more information about the house, visit temperancehall.org or call Sassman at (908) 303-4254.