On November 8th the Virginia Beach Planning Commission will meet to discuss and vote on eliminating the special use condition which prohibits substance abuse treatment centers from occupying a building at 1851 Old Donation Parkway. The building sits behind Arden Courts, the ProMedica Memory Care facility and borders Regatta Circle, Country Mill Road and Broad Bay Manor Preschool. 

According to the application before the Planning Commission, the company that wishes to lease this building, Recovery Unplugged Behavioral Health, intends to provide services to patients seeking treatment for substance abuse and co-occurring disorders by providing medically monitored inpatient withdrawal management care. The facility will operate 24 hours a day, seven days a week The facility will serve up to 30 patients at one time with a maximum length of stay of 30 days. Patients served will be 18 years of age and older.

Recovery Unplugged Behavioral Health held an open community forum on October 25 to provide more information as well as hear concerns from the community. Approximately 20 members of the community attended and expressed a number of concerns. The two representatives, Rachel Jackson, Chief Operating Officer and Dave Engwall, Executive Director, provided some answers, but there are still a number of outstanding issues and concerns. 

The most frequently expressed concerns relate to the proposed location. It is approximately 200 feet from Broad Bay Manor Pre-school, 1000 feet from Lynnhaven Middle School, 300 feet from Great Neck Meadows park and it borders directly on the Great Neck Meadows Neighborhood. It is also shares a parking lot with a memory care facility. All of these locations were cited by attendees of the forum as reasons not to remove the current restriction which prohibits substance abuse treatment at this facility. 

Also noted by attendees is the permanent nature of Conditional Use Permits. The building is question was granted a Conditional Use Permit in 2004 for rehabilitation center to serve patients with neurological disabilities. This conditional use permit is still valid, despite the building being vacant for a number of years. If Recovery Unplugged Behavioral Health is successful in removing the condition which prohibits substance abuse treatment centers from occupying the building, any future owner or tenant would be granted the same conditional use. This would include all types of drug and alcohol treatment including a methadone clinic.

The application before the Planning Commission states that violent offenders, sex offenders and individuals with acute psychiatric disorders will not be treated at this facility, but when asked how this would be administered and enforced, the Recovery Unplugged Behavioral Health representatives could not provide an answer and stated that they do not routinely run background checks on potential patients.

The inability of the facility to legally keep residents from leaving was another concern that was discussed in detail. The facility would have no legal right to keep patients there for their entire treatment. Leaving would end their treatment, but they are free to walk away from the facility at any time. 

The building at 1851 Old Donation Parkway is not in the First Colonial medical corridor and therefore is zoned O-2, Office District. The Conditional Use Permit granted in 2004 allows use as a Sanatorium, rehab facility or medical office. As noted before there is a restriction which prohibits substance abuse treatment centers from occupying the building.

Please sign this petition if you agree that the restriction should stay in place.