(The Center Square) – The Yakima City Council passed a six-month moratorium on halfway houses and secure transition facilities Tuesday as the state considers where to place sexually violent predators.
Washington state uses McNeil Island to civilly commit sex offenders after they have finished their prison sentences if a court identifies them as sexually violent predators. Secure community transition facilities are a “step down” from total confinement, with one SCFT located on the island and one in South Seattle.
The Department of Social and Health Services is seeking sites for additional SCFTs in Snohomish and other areas of the state. State law treats SCTFs as essential public facilities and requires local officials to adopt policies that permit their siting. The city has done this for halfway houses, but not SCTFs.
The moratorium provides the council with time to update Yakima’s siting process and rules for halfway houses, and to define SCTFs in the city code, before the state selects other areas for additional facilities.
“Those facilities are defined in a way that we believe may place them under our term Halfway House in Yakima Municipal Code, but we don’t have a specific definition for [SCTFs],” City Attorney Sara Watkins told the city council on Tuesday, “… and we haven’t adopted land use regulations for those facilities.”
The YMC defines halfway houses as “residentially oriented facilities that provide: state-licensed group care homes for juvenile delinquents; houses providing residence in lieu of instructional sentencing; houses providing residence to individuals needing correctional institutionalization; or detoxification centers licensed by the state where alcohol and drug abusers can be placed in lieu of incarceration.”
Watkins said she isn’t aware of any halfway houses in Yakima that meet the city’s definition, but noted that there are places that people might think of as halfway houses. The council unanimously approved the six-month moratorium and sent the ordinance to the planning commission on an expedited basis.
The planning commission will develop zoning regulations and restrictions for where halfway houses and SCTFs can be sited in Yakima. The moratorium will stay in effect until October 6, but Watkins said the council could extend it if the planning commission needs more time to propose zoning regulations.
“Tri Cities went through this, and it is a big deal,” Mayor Matt Brown said during Tuesday’s meeting, referencing moratoriums and zoning polices adopted in Pasco, Benton City, Richland, and other cities.
State law prohibits SCTFs from being sited “adjacent to, immediately across a street or parking lot from, or within the line of sight of a risk potential activity or facility.” DSHS defines those activities and facilities online as schools, bus stops, daycares, parks, trails, sports fields, playgrounds, recreational and community centers, churches and other religious sites, libraries and youth camps, among others.
DSHS’s website says SCTFs include 24-hour staffing and escort supervision when residents leave the facilities. They are required to participate in court-ordered behavioral treatment and GPS monitoring.
Ankle bracelets track the residents “24 hours a day, seven days a week,” and trigger alerts to notify the state Department of Corrections if the person goes out of bounds. DSHS’s website also states that residents must follow strict curfews and preapproved travel routes, among other rules. If they violate those conditions, the state can return those individuals to McNeil Island’s total confinement facility.
Yakima will hold a public hearing on May 12 to hear input on the moratorium and residents’ concerns.
