By George P. Hassett

City officials may not be able to regulate a “sober house” on Wilton Street that neighbors say is a center of drug activity.

Bruce MacDonald, the attorney for Sober Surroundings at 31 Wilton Street, said the residents of the house, Рrecovering alcoholics and drug addicts – qualify as handicapped and, under the Federal Fair Housing Act, are exempt from local zoning regulations that limit the number of unrelated people living together in a home.

“The city is hamstrung,” said City Solicitor John Gannon. “We can’t regulate congregate housing for people with disabilities.”

Inspectional Services Director George Landers said the city could not force the owners of the house – Michael Cartolano and Russell Colombo – to apply for special permits “as long as they are under the handicap umbrella.”

Landers recently toured the home with MacDonald, Cartolano, Police Chief Anthony Holloway and a member of the Neighborhood Impact Team. He said he counted 11 beds in 6 bedrooms and zero state building code violations.

There are no professional staffers at the house to offer counseling to residents, he said. Instead, a senior resident of the house handles all supervision. Residents pay $135 a week in rent and a $250 fee upon entering the house.

“They’re making $6,500 a month by my calculations,” said Alderman-at-Large William A. White. “It seems almost crazy to me that anybody can take a house, bring in drug addicts and alcoholics, call it a sober house and run it without any regulations.”

For more than a year, neighbors have complained of drug deals, public drunkenness and rowdy behavior coming from the property. Joe Lynch, who lives one block away from the house, said used hypodermic needles have also been showing up around the property. He said neighbors are concerned about the incidents that have taken place at the property, not its use as a sober house.

“Had it not been for multiple public safety calls to the house, had it not been for hypodermic needles being found on the street, had it not been for parents complaining about lewd remarks being made to their 13-year-old daughters, this house would not have faced the reaction it does now,” he said.

Bob Langill said while the house threatens the neighborhood’s safety its owners are cashing in. “This is a big money maker for them and my property value is going down.”