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Harrison County Commission approves group home permit, reversing previous decision

CLARKSBURG, W. Va. — A group home for eight individuals with disabilities has been given the approval to be constructed after the Harrison County Commission voted to reverse the county’s initial decision to deny a permit.

“Since the county doesn’t have zoning, this particular developed community has covenants and restrictions,” Commission President Ron Watson said. “There was some reason to think that [the group home] was in violation of the covenants and restrictions, so we turned it over to our legal…We will be issuing out the permit.”

Ohio-based Scioto Properties submitted the building permit to construct the eight-person facility and then lease the property out to ResCare, which would provide the in-home services, but was denied in December on the grounds that the current developer created a restrictive covenant for the property between I-79 and Mount Clare on Rt. 25, which prohibits businesses from operating in the area.

“There are specific statutes relating to this issue that do state that group residential facilities, regardless of whether there’s in-home care provided that requires money, they are to be deemed as a residence. They’re not to be deemed as a business,” Prosecuting Attorney Rachel Romano said. “Basically, it says it’s against public policy.”

Fair housing advocates from the Northern West Virginia Center for Independent Living and the Fair Housing Partnership of Pittsburgh attended the commission’s meeting on March 13, pleading for a reversal of the denial.

Even though the commission took no issue with potential residents and was only focused on the business aspect of the facility, they warned of the potential consequences of violating the Fair Housing Act.

“I didn’t look as far into [penalties] as I probably could have, because my determination was the law basically states you can’t characterize it as a business, it needs to be characterized as a residence,” Romano said. “It was pretty clear. There wasn’t even case law interpreting it because it was that clear.”

Before receiving Romano’s legal opinion and approving the permit at Thursday’s meeting, the commission wished to represent the interests of the homeowners, should the issue go to court.

“It’ll be up to the homeowners from here on out if they want to contest the value of their covenants and restriction,” Watson said.





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