A small group home for addiction recovery is proposed on Gaines Drive

The owner of 3824 Gaines Drive in Winter Haven has applied to Polk County for a C-1 use approval to permanently allow a small group home with six or fewer residents. According to the application, the home would house ambulatory adults in a 30-day-or-less program of psychotherapy and wellness education for drug and alcohol use disorders, delivered in a clinical setting inside the home. The records say detox and other medically intensive treatment would not happen at this location, and the operator would be licensed and regulated by Florida's Department of Children and Families.

The application notes the owner previously received a July 13 determination letter tied to a related small emergency-shelter case (LDAA-2026-111). It also cites Florida's community-residential-home law (s. 419.001, F.S.), which allows homes of six or fewer residents in single-family zoning without local approval if spacing rules are met, and it references federal and state fair-housing requirements the county must weigh.

The county lists the filing as a C-1 administrative determination — a staff-level review — with a status of "Application Received."