Council delays action on Freedom House permit

Kalispell’s Freedom House is not home free.

The City Council on Monday tabled a request for a conditional use permit for one month to get more information.

Freedom House, which opened in April and didn’t request the required permit until two months later, operates as a clean and sober house for recovering alcoholic men.

The conditional use permit would allow eight men to live in the four-bedroom house at 1128 Third Ave. W. Only four non-related people currently are allowed to live in the abode, which has been described as a duplex, but is actually a house, City Planner Tom Jentz said. A breezeway connected the home with another on the property in 1988 but is no longer there.

Jentz previously said the city was required under the federal Fair Housing Act to approve the conditional use permit, but the council wanted more information.

Significant opposition surfaced after neighbors found out about Freedom House, a nonprofit organization.

A registered sex offender who served as vice president of the organization caused a stir and subsequently resigned. Randy Marr, a retired attorney who served as president, also recently resigned. These changes were referred to as “turmoil” by Bill Hawk, who lives at the home and serves as a volunteer house manager.

Noting that the city Planning Board recommended denying the permit out of frustration by a vote of 5-2, council member Randy Kenyon queried City Attorney Charlie Harball. “What will happen if we vote no?” he asked.

“I don’t know,” Harball replied. “One would file suit in federal court and you give me work to do.”

Rod Nash, president of the Freedom House board of directors, said five people now are living at the home, which he described as a halfway house.

Hawk said that no violent or sexual offenders are allowed in the program. “We’re trying to rehabilitate people who want to be rehabilitated,” he said. Hawk apologized for not immediately applying for a permit.

Hawk, who said he has been sober for two years, said police haven’t been called to the Freedom House, but noted there have been many calls in the surrounding neighborhood.

Men from the home have volunteered to help with neighbors’ chores, Hawk said. They mowed the lawn of a woman who has a crippled son and young granddaughter living with her.

“We do not enable these guys,” Hawk said. “We teach them how to live.”

The Freedom House needs more than four residents to survive, treasurer Joi Gratny said. The home is paying $1,000 in rent monthly and charges each tenant $275 plus utilities.

After being questioned by Mayor Tammi Fisher, Jentz said the city has issued conditional use permits to lessees in the past. “We contacted the owners of record [Comfort Living LLC of Columbia Falls],” Jentz said, noting there were no negative comments.

Jerri Guiffrida, who owns rental property near the home, said it “operates under loopholes and lies,” referring to the fact that a sober house isn’t required to get licensed. “They have zero accountability to anybody,” she said.

“We need more time to investigate how other cities have looked into these facilities,” Phillip Guiffrida III said. “If you vote against this, there will be a lawsuit. You will probably lose. If you vote for it, you lose all credibility because we don’t have all our ducks in a row.”

Reduced property values also are a concern, he said, noting he put up a six-foot fence on a next-door property so he could rent it out. Guiffrida said he lost a tenant after that person found out about the Freedom House.

“We need to be very clear what it is we’re dealing with,” said Allison Bishop, who lives near the Freedom House. “Accountability issues raised a red flag originally.”

Council member Duane Larson, who has served on council since 1990, said, “One thing I’ve learned, when you uphold the rights of some person, you trample the rights of others.”

Larson later asked for a work-study session on the topic.

The vote to table was 6-3, with Kenyon, Bob Hafferman and Fisher voting no.

Reporter Caleb Soptelean may be reached at 758-4483 or by e-mail at csoptelean@dailyinterlake.com.