For 11 years Fraternity House has been providing 24-hour care to people living with HIV/AIDS in the quiescent, tree-lined community of North County’s Elfin Forest.

One of only two licensed residential care facilities for people with HIV/AIDS in San Diego County, Fraternity House provides meals, medications, activities and companionship for eight residents, many of whom will spend their final days there.

As Fraternity House seeks to renew its conditional use permit for the first time since 1993, complaints have surfaced from residents who share a private driveway with the home.

They say the facility’s septic tank regularly overflows, spilling raw sewage in the area, and that medical waste is left strewn upon the driveway – charges Fraternity House staff and management vehemently deny.

At the heart of the complaints, say staff, is homophobia, coupled with a startling lack of education about HIV/AIDS.

When a sign was posted along Elfin Forest Road alerting neighbors of the permit renewal request, letters of complaint began to trickle in to the San Marcos Planning Department (though the county owns the 40,000-square-foot house, it is located within San Marcos city limits and its permit must be renewed through the city).

“It is hard to assume that the men being treated for HIV/AIDS at Fraternity House all contracted this disease by accident,” read one of the complaints addressed to city officials. “Their history and decisions that they have made in their life are questioned by this community.”

The San Marcos Planning Commission will hear public comment regarding the permit renewal at 6:30 p.m., Dec. 6, at its regular meeting at San Marcos City Hall, located at 1 Civic Center Plaza in San Marcos. Staff is asking the public to show up and voice their support for Fraternity House.

Greg Randles was referred to Fraternity House by his caseworker four months ago, after encephalitis took his eyesight and weakened his memory. He found it hard to live on his own and take his medications properly.

Notified of the complaints, Randles was dismayed.

“I don’t understand why people still act that way with as much education as we have about our disease and how it’s contracted,” he said.

Other complaints took issue with Fraternity House residents taking walks in the area.

“On several occasions, residents have escaped the facility to be found roaming our neighborhood,” stated a complaint. “Additionally, residents are found leisurely walking our street.”

“Our residents are not in prison,” said the home’s executive director, Molly Henry. “If their health permits, they are perfectly welcome to take a leisurely walk, just like any other human being.”

Henry said some of the letters referenced an incident in 1997 when a resident with progressive dementia got lost while returning from the mailbox. A search and rescue effort was called in and the resident was later found crouching in a ditch.

“I’m really depressed that they are so immature about this illness,” said Alex Morales, a resident of eight months. “We’re not even bothering their spaces.”

Henry said two residents who moved into the neighborhood in 1997 went around the neighborhood urging others to write letters of complaint to the city.

“There always will be one or two people who hate our guts, no matter what we do to try and be friendly and please them,” Henry said. “There’s a long history of homophobia and fear of AIDS in this community. There’s always somebody that doesn’t want us there.”

An anonymous notice about the Fraternity House’s request also appeared in an Elfin Forest community newsletter.

“[Fraternity House] is a euphemism as the facility is a home for AIDS patients,” stated the newsletter. “Young families live in close proximity to the Fraternity House. Neighbors have tried to get information on the background of the men who live there. The people who oversee the house choose not to share any information about these individuals. It’s time to take our community back….”

Henry said members of the Elfin Forest Town Council wrote a letter to the planning commission, requesting that the permit not be renewed.

Arie Franken, a neighbor who sits on the Elfin Forest Town Council, said no such letter had been written, but that the council had seen photographs and witnessed incidents substantiating the allegations.

“We’ll come out with some kind of statement in due time,” said Franken, who is against the renewal.

“I’m very concerned about the health issue,” he said. “There are families that live below and I have personally driven by and seen stuff on the street.”

Franken said the facility’s septic tank frequently overflows, causing a noxious odor in the neighborhood.

“I’ve seen water coming down from their place with foam all over it,” he said. “That was after they said they had had it fixed.”

The septic tank is checked annually by the county’s department of environmental health, and given the green light each year, Henry said.

Henry said that in 1999, a discharge pipe from the laundry facility was disconnected from the main septic system and was reconnected.

Cynthia Skovgard of the San Marco Planning Commission said she was not yet familiar with the complaints, though after a review of city records, she found that the septic system issue had been rectified.

“All those problems were taken care of in the year 2000,” Skovgard said. “There’s been no problems with it since.”

On a recent visit, development director Lisa Lipsey stood in the foyer of the home, noting a large “tree of life” containing the names of former residents lost to the disease, among them her uncle.

Lispey began visiting her uncle at Fraternity House while in junior high. Her and her mother would cook meals for residents. After her uncle passed away, she remained active at the house.

“If I thought things were wrong or there was sewage running down the street I’d be one of the first to blow the whistle,” Lipsey said, “because that’s why I’m here – to see that people are able to live in comfort and dignity.”

County Supervisor Bill Horn, who represents Elfin Forest, also said the complaints are unfounded.

“You’ve got to remember,” said Horn, “if they’re smelling an odor, all those people have horses out there.”

Horn said many of those complaining are newer residents and knew the home was there when they moved in.

“I have tried to make sure that Molly’s been in compliance and she has been,” Horn said. “Every time there’s been a complaint, we have sent an inspector out there. I just think these people have kind of got a fear factor going. I think they need to have a little compassion for these people.”

As to charges of medical waste lying around the property, Franken admitted he had not seen any.

“They’ve been clean about that,” he admitted.

Henry said all hazardous waste was deposited in a storage container that is kept under lock and key, and later picked up by a private disposal company.

However, Franken did say vehicles traveling to and from Fraternity House have increased traffic along the driveway.

“The road is deteriorating,” he said. “No one’s given us any money to take care of this road. I’ve gone to the county and I’ve said, ‘You’ve got to have a place for something like this, that’s understandable, but you can’t screw other people doing it.’

“I’m not talking towards the AIDS house now,” Franken added. “I’m portraying the county as a bad neighbor.”

Franken suggested that the county put in a separate road allowing access to Fraternity House, while bypassing the private drive.

“We’ve spent a lot of money on those roads,” Horn maintained. “I just think they’re grasping at every straw they can find to come up with an objection.

“I think it would be to Molly’s benefit if the neighbors would come visit and see that it’s just a normal place to live,” he said.

Henry said she has invited several of the neighbors who filed complaints to come and visit Fraternity House, to no avail.

“How many times can you invite somebody in the house and be rejected,” she said. “They don’t want to know what we do, they don’t want to know who we are. They’re just dead set against us.”

Though a decision won’t be made in the matter until after the public hearing, the planning department has recommended that the commission renew the lease for another three years.

“Based on the feedback that we’ve gotten during the public review process from neighbors, we’re recommending it for a shorter period of time,” said Assistant Planner Norm Pedersen. “Then it can go through a public review process again then in three years.”

The planning department has also recommended that Fraternity House be limited to gatherings of 20 people or less, which would seriously limit their annual holiday party.

Should the commission decide not to renew the permit, Henry said Fraternity House could continue with six residents, requiring that two current residents be forced to find a new home.

“Ultimately, the house is owned by the county,” said Henry. “It’s possible that the county would be upset if we didn’t have our conditional use permit renewed and they would consider terminating our lease.”