By George P. Hassett

Neighbors angry about a sober house they say is anything but sober, will have a chance to air their complaints publicly at an upcoming Zoning Board of Appeals meeting, city officials said this week.

City spokeswoman Lesley Delaney Hawkins said Inspectional Services Director George Landers went to 31 Wilton St. and determined that owners Michael Cartolano and Russell Colombo did not have the necessary permits needed to operate the home as a sober house. Cartolano and Colombo will have to apply for the permits with the Zoning Board of Appeals which will hold a public hearing on the issue. The date of the public hearing has not yet been determined, she said.

In the past month neighbors have complained publicly to aldermen and Police Chief Anthony Holloway about drug deals, public drinking and hypodermic needles spilling out from the home at 31 Wilton St. and into the street. The home is operated as Sober Surroundings and advertises itself as a place where recovering addicts can get help.

Joe Lynch lives one block away from the house and said at least three drug overdoses have taken place since Cartolano and Colombo bought the home in 2006. Police records show four calls for a sick person in need of help in that time.

Lynch said residents of the house seem to constantly rotate in and out and range anywhere from four to 13 at a time.

On Monday morning, a man living at the house was arrested around the corner. Ronald Mercogliano, 47, of 31 Wilton St., was arrested and charged with having warrants for possession of a class B drug, larceny under $250 and conspiracy to violate a drug law.

Somerville Police Capt. Michael Devereaux said police have increased directed patrols in the neighborhood and Lynch said he has seen Holloway in the area three times in the last few weeks.

At an aldermen’s meeting where the issue of the house was raised, aldermen were quick to point out that the city welcomes people trying to get help for addiction. Alderman-at-Large John M. Connolly said there were more than 30 group homes in the city, and the city welcomes homes that are properly licensed and operated.

According to neighbors, 31 Wilton St. is not one of those homes.

‚ÄúIt doesn’t take a rocket scientist to see that drug deals are going on when a car pulls up in front of the house early in the morning, a person gets in, lingers for five or 10 minutes then gets out of the car and goes back in the house,‚Äù Lynch said. He and other neighbors claimed to have personally witnessed hand to hand drug deals involving house residents.

However, according to Sober Surroundings attorney Bruce MacDonald complaints of neighbors should be taken with “a grain of salt.”

‚ÄúI don’t believe these things happened. No needles came from anyone inside the house, anyone using drugs in the house is expelled. Someone who wants to deflect attention from themselves could have thrown [the needle] in front of the house,‚Äù he said.

MacDonald admitted there had been one drug overdose at the house but said any incident there can be blown out of proportion by neighbors unhappy to be living next to a sober house.

“If an incident happens the neighbors use it to put the house in the worst possible light,” he said.

As for possible permitting violations, Macdonald said the property is exempt from an ordinance regulating the number of unrelated people living in a home. The Fair Housing Act, he said, protects people with disabilities – recovering addicts are included in that group – from such laws.

Macdonald said he has represented companies operating sober houses for 20 years. One company he represented, New England Transitions, has faced controversy when opening new sober houses in Medford and Malden. According to published reports, parents of former NET residents said the houses suffer from a lack of oversight, questionable sobriety testing and over-packed rooms that come close to violating fire codes.

However, Lynch said if the residents of Sober Surroundings are committed to staying away from drugs and alcohol they will be accepted by the neighborhood.

‚ÄúIf you are a person who wants to get help and stay clean and you do not put anyone else in the neighborhood at risk, there is a place for you here. But this neighborhood is not going to accept a house where illegal activity consistently occurs,‚Äù he said.