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1 nevertheless resulted in the downsizing of facilities, particularly 2 those for the mentally retarded. • 3 Ms. Smith then addressed the portion of the proposed bill which she said 4 had language dealing with community correction facilities (halfway 5 houses) which tended to make neighborhoods very uneasy. Ms. Homans 6 addressed that concern by telling the Council her own experience of 7 living with a child in kindergarten on Lake Street only half a block 8 away from a correctional facility which she perceived was much easier 9 for the neighbors to deal with than a mentally ill facility because the 10 residents of the correctional facility were gone all day to work and 11 were behind locked doors at 10:00 P.M. every night. 12 Under the proposed legislation, residential facilities for correctional 13 clients would be permitted uses in zoning districts which permitted 14 hotels and motels. There could be up to 50 beds in such districts 15 subject to at least 750 foot distance from any residential use. The St. 16 Paul planner told the Councilmembers that she saw the Ramsey County and 17 St. Paul Human Services Departments as having been acting as proxies for 18 St. Anthony's interests in the proposed legislation and she and Ms. 19 Smith were present that evening to get Council reaction to those 20 efforts. 21 She reiterated that the proposed legislation had its roots in St. Paul's 22 efforts to update; bring rationality to; and discuss and resolve issues 23 relating to the placement and regulation of community residential 24 facilities. Ms. Homans indicated the objective of the proposed • 25 legislation was to enhance the quality of care offered to people with 26 mental illness or retardation or chemical dependency by insuring that 27 they obtain normal residential community surroundings, a right which is 28 already recognized by state policy, but which can never happen as long 29 as there are concentrations of facilities • as there are in St. Paul. 30 concentrating 4% of this type of vulnerable population in one 31 neighborhood in 109 and 175 bed facilities for the mentally ill; a 40 32 bed facility for correctional clients; and a 30 bed facility for 33 chemical dependency clients doesn't create a normal residential 34 surrounding for those who need the benefit of county care. 35 She said providers of such care in the past have followed the path of 36 the least resistance by going into neighborhoods which are poorly 37 organized, leaving it up to the next guy to worry about too much 38 concentration. The planner added that there had been a lot of 39 resistance from .local governments because they didn't want to go through 40 the public hearings and the stress that's involved with the possibility 41 of these facilities locating in their own neighborhoods. 42 Ms. Homans pointed out that corporate providers of services to mentally 43 ill and retarded clients have taken advantage of the lack of distance W 44 restrictions in the existing licensing laws by establishing clusters of 45 from 10 to 12 four bed homes with split staffs that are operated more 46 like group homes rather than foster homes. The new law proposes a token 47 450 foot distance between such small facilities to remove the economic 6