A new Traverse City sober living house aims to bridge the gap between substance abuse treatment and recovery, offering residents a supportive environment in which to live while adjusting to long-term sobriety.

But in its mission to fill a niche, TC Retreat – the first of its kind in Traverse City – is causing neighbors and city officials to debate if such residences are permitted – and if so, where.

The nonprofit TC Retreat purchased a house on Comanche Street in December with the goal of renting rooms to up to six men in recovery. Tenants are expected to pay rent, commit to a 6-12 month stay, maintain employment and undergo background checks. They must also be 30 days sober at the time of moving in and are expected to attend four recovery meetings a week. Any violation of the rules – including drinking or using drugs – is grounds for immediate expulsion.

The first three tenants moved into the home earlier this month; TC Retreat is in the process now of reviewing applications for the remaining three spots.

“These are guys who’ve put recovery as the number one priority in their lives,” says TC Retreat board member and former judge Tom Gilbert, who is himself in long-term recovery. “We’re dedicated to breaking the 'treat-and-release' revolving door of detox and discharge to the same environment. The goal is to give (tenants) an opportunity to develop and maintain long-term recovery.”

The TC Retreat house is in a single-family residential district, which allows for private residences in which multiple roommates act as a “single housekeeping unit” and help pay the rent, a common occurrence with young professionals and college students in the city. Such districts, however, do not allow for residential and treatment care facilities, nor do they permit temporary lodging facilities like boarding houses.

Whether TC Retreat falls under either of those prohibited categories is something Zoning Administrator Dave Weston and City Attorney Lauren Trible-Laucht are reviewing.

“It’s kind of a gray area in the zoning ordinance,” Weston tells The Ticker. “There are a lot of unique things about this. The key is if (TC Retreat is) providing programs and services for substance abuse problems. They’re maintaining they’re not…but that’s what we’re going to evaluate.”

Gilbert stresses TC Retreat's sole purpose is to provide a substance-free, stable environment in which tenants in recovery can live. It does not provide treatment or services, he says. A homeowner renting to roommates could also set rules for alcohol or drug use in a house, along with other living expectations, Gilbert points out.

“It’s not a T-house (transition house),” he says, referring to short-term treatment facilities that are located in commercial districts, owned by treatment centers and typically have affiliations with the criminal justice system. TC Retreat has no counselors on-site, nor does it offer classes or programming. If residents need such services, they go off-site for them, Gilbert says.

But neighbors of TC Retreat – at least six of whom contacted the city complaining about the home and expressing concerns about neighborhood safety and character – question the distinction. “From a simple common sense perspective, the recovery house clearly was not what the (zoning) drafters intended,” wrote Comanche Street resident Deborah Rysso. “In no way do transient strangers moving in and out frequently…constitute a ‘family.’” In remarks echoed by other neighbors, Rysso also wrote she believed the house’s many substance-related rules “constitute services and programs – they are done to achieve the specific result of sobriety.”

Gilbert says negative reactions from neighbors reflect the “stigma and fear about the disease of addiction." He says TC Retreat wants what other homeowners want: “a safe, quiet neighborhood and property values to be maintained.” But both Gilbert and Weston, who could rule on whether the home meets the city's zoning ordinance as soon as this week, acknowledge that given the strong differing viewpoints, the debate is one that's not likely to be resolved quietly or quickly.

“I think no matter what happens, we’re going to have an appeal to the BZA (board of zoning appeals),” says Weston. Both TC Retreat and some Comanche Street residents have expressed their intent to pursue an appeal if a ruling goes against them, according to the zoning administrator. With TC Retreat’s stated goal of opening more sober living homes in the future – “we know we’re on the right side of the zoning,” says Gilbert – the city’s planning commission could also take up the topic, clarifying zoning rules once and for all for future projects.

“They could look at that specific use and determine if it’s something we’d like to have in the city, either by right or possibly by some kind of special land use permit process," says Weston.