A city commissioner who earlier this week proposed restrictions on where sex offenders could live would also like to tighten Fargo's zoning laws for residential treatment facilities.
The change to zoning law would require residential facilities that Police Chief Keith Ternes called "quasi-correctional" to receive a city permit if they are in the multiresidential zones designed for apartments.
Commissioner Dave Piepkorn said that would prevent a facility like the one proposed by Fargo attorney Craig Richie, rejected for a permit last month, from opening without approval of the city.
Richie raised that possibility during debate about the 12-man group home he had hoped to open at 106 16th St. N., though he later said he didn't plan to do that in the near future.
Right now, Planning Director Jim Gilmour said, such a facility could open without a permit in any area zoned for multiresidential uses.
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"It would address that," Gilmour said of the zoning-law change.
The tweak to zoning law was suggested at a meeting Gilmour, Piepkorn, Ternes and City Attorney Erik Johnson had Wednesday morning to discuss the new ordinance Piepkorn suggested earlier this week.
That law would bar registered sex offenders from living within 1,200 feet of a school or outdoor park facility.
Ternes is opposed to the new residency restriction, calling it "feel-good legislation" that could cause more offenders to not register.
But Ternes said the zoning change "may very well have some merit," as such a residential facility - for sex offenders or any other probationers or parolees - probably doesn't mesh well in residential areas.
The police chief spoke in favor of the facility Richie proposed, which needed a permit because it was in an area zoned as commercial.
"The debate is really more about where in the city it should be located," Ternes said.
Gilmour said it's not yet clear whether the zoning change would require new treatment centers to have a permit in nonresidential areas, but it would flat-out bar them in single-family residential zones - making them off-limits even with a conditional use permit.
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The group that met Wednesday will reconvene in two weeks to discuss both of the proposals.
"I'm not in a big rush," Piepkorn said. "I want it done well."
Readers can reach Forum reporter Dave Roepke at (701) 241-5535
