JEREMY DUDA - Daily Herald | Posted: Thursday, January 4, 2007 11:00 pm
The operators of a drug treatment center for young men in Provo will have to find another location for their new facility after their would-be neighbors came out in force to oppose the project.
The Utah County Board of Adjustment voted 3-1 to reject a request for a special exemption for The Journey Blazing New Trails LLC that would have allowed the company to move its residential drug treatment center to an area near Benjamin. Several dozen residents of the area attended the meeting to voice their disapproval of the company's plans.
Arguments against the facility ranged from loss of property value and safety of nearby residents to lack of emergency services available to the facility, which would have been located at 4634 W. 7300 South in the Benjamin/West Mountain area. A facility representative countered the arguments, calling its clients safe, and saying property values would not fall.
Rhett Burnham, one of several representatives of the opponents who spoke before the board, said he is a resident of American Fork who plans to move his family to the Benjamin area. That plan could be nixed if the residential treatment center sets up shop in the neighborhood. But those who already live in the area, he said, do not have that option.
"We are the lucky ones. We have a choice," Burnham said.
Madolyn Liebing, program director for the Provo facility, which is located near downtown, defended the proposed treatment center. She said it would not lower property values and would not pose a risk to anyone living nearby. The patients would be 12- to 18-year-old boys who are court ordered into a drug treatment program. The facility does not accept boys with histories of violent behavior, sex offenses or serious mental health issues, she said.
Liebing emphasized that the center focuses on therapy and is not a lockdown facility. The boys attend several hours of classes a day, and are involved in community service such as public cleanup. She said the company wants to move its facility outside Provo so the boys can do more agricultural work.
In nearly two years, she said, the company has had four patients run away and there have been no incidents of boys victimizing nearby residents.
"I think we've got a real safe, solid program. We're having a real impact on these boys' lives and hopefully making them better citizens," Liebing said.
But her potential neighbors were not convinced. Some were concerned what a nearby drug treatment center would do to the value of their homes. Liebing presented an appraisal showing that property values would not be affected, but the opponents -- who submitted a 100-page booklet to the board outlining their case -- had 10 letters from real estate professionals opining that the treatment center would have a negative impact.
Holly Davis, a mortgage loan underwriter from Benjamin, disagreed with Liebing's appraisal. Compare two identical homes, one that is near a drug treatment center and one that is not, and the former would likely sell for less, she said.
"I have knowledge of what increases and decreases the value of these properties," she said. "It does discourage a certain percentage of buyers."
And some residents did not take comfort in the fact that the facility would not take boys with violent pasts. Blake Huff, who lives in Lake Shore, near the site of the proposed treatment center, said there are always tractors and pickup trucks in the area with the keys still in them.
Huff said he would not feel safe living near the facility.
"I'm out there at night irrigating. You think I'm going to carry a gunfi Well, I will if that home gets built," he said.
Board members Randy Christiansen, Lyle Hillier and chairman Richard Dalebout voted to deny the zoning exception that would have allowed the treatment center, while Mark Brady was the board's lone voice of dissent.
"I guess I'm not satisfied that there's enough information before us to address the issue that there's no negative impact on property values," Christiansen said.
This story appeared in The Daily Herald on page D1.