Youth rehabilitation facilities in Orem now have new standards to meet.

The Orem City Council recently amended the city's ordinance governing youth rehabilitation facilities in order to make the homes more compatible with neighboring uses.

Steve Earl of the city's legal department said that the city's experience with a youth home on Sandhill Road has shown that some improvements can be made to the ordinance.

The facilities provide rehabilitation services for juveniles who have committed crimes and are under court supervision. Currently, the only zone in which the facilities are permitted in Orem is the highway services (HS) zone, Earl said.

Changes approved include "requiring a youth rehabilitation home to be at least 1,000 feet from any school, one-half mile from any other group home, and at least 200 feet away from any dwelling if the facility accepts residents who have committed any sex-related offense," reads the background information on the agenda item.

A six-foot, sight-obscuring fence around the rear and side yards will also be required. The number of residents per home will be limited to 10, and there must be at least eight off-street parking spaces for residents, visitors and staff members.

Facilities also must be located on a parcel of land at least one-half acre in size, and no person over the age of 20 can be a resident in the facility.

Anyone deemed to be a "direct threat to other individuals" may not occupy the facility, and individualized assessments of each potential resident are required to make that determination.

The owner of a facility must certify to the city that no resident will likely constitute a direct threat to others and must provide documentation verifying compliance with the ordinance standards.

Councilwoman Shiree Thurston asked Earl if there would be any difficulty with the federal government over the regulations.

Earl said he was not aware of any federal law that would preclude the city ordinance.

"(The residents) are not there because of disabilities, but because they are juvenile offenders," he said. "They do not get the protections of the Fair Housing Act."