Ventnor Next? Hansen Sober Living Expands in Lower Chelsea Atlantic City

Ventnor keeping a close eye on how Hansen Sober Living is expanding in the usually quiet, Lower Chelsea neighborhood of Atlantic City.  

Atlantic City and Ventnor homeowners watching in disbelief.

Hansen Sober Living not required to follow local Atlantic City zoning and land-use laws. Similar things likely happening in Ventnor as well. 

Paul Richards of Tallahassee Ave addressed Atlantic City Council on Dec 29, 2021. (VIDEO)

Frustrations over the sober living Hansen House currently being built on Tallahassee Ave. Even on Christmas day. Late into the night. 

Hansen allegedly told Mr. Richards they’re turning the house into an in-patient, level 3 housing facility, with a full-time staff member. Residents / patients will go for treatments Monday through Saturday, 8a to 4p. 

I’m not sure how this is a residential house. There’s an army of people moving stuff into this house. 

I called Dale Finch, Director of License and Inspections for City of Atlantic City. Finch says city doesn’t have jurisdiction. Can’t look into it. Can’t step foot on the property. NJ State deals with it.

Hansen Sober Living Operations in Atlantic City and Ventnor.

Richards then spoke with Chief of NJ Bureau of Rooming & Boarding House Standards. (DCA)

Bernard “Jay” Raywood said Atlantic City has all the right to stop them from doing what they’re doing… if they’re failing for zoning use, land use. If they fail, city has the right to come in and stop them. (VIDEO)

Lt Gov Sheila Oliver oversees the DCA for NJ Gov Phil Murphy. 

How does Dale Finch not know he has authority to stop it? 

Some nights they’re out there till 10:30 at night working on the house. They were out there Christmas morning. 

That’s kind of like a commercial property. It’s not a residential property.  

And I’ll go on record. I’d much rather have an Airbnb over there than deal with the sober living and what this is going to bring to the neighborhood.

From what I understand, after detox, judges say ‘do you want to go to rehab or sober living house’? Are we looking to have that in our neighborhoods? (VIDEO)

AC Councilman Jesse Kurtz: You know when somebody is doing work on Christmas Day, that’s a red flag. 

It’s on the record in federal court. This group bought a house in the city and started doing construction work without permits. They felt they didn’t need to get permits. They moved people in without permits. 

Now, after being denied by our zoning board for a variance to do what they wanted to do, they’re doing it anyway.  

I think at some point, we need to stand up and stand strong for the rule of law. 

AC Councilman Kurtz

License and Inspection Director Dale Finch: The Tallahassee Ave property is a Class F facility. We do not have any jurisdiction over the UCC operations, which means construction wise, we would not be aware of any permitting. The NJ DCA issues the permits and they do the inspections. 

We do not have any jurisdiction. We are not privy to the permits that were issued at the time. We are working to resolve the issue, but it’s going to probably end up going back into the courts. 

I was not aware that they were moving furniture or building walls. We wouldn’t have that knowledge from the state construction side.