Anaheim : Council Reverses Veto of Rehabilitation Center

A drug and alcohol rehabilitation center was approved by the City Council on Tuesday despite complaints from neighbors that it would “bring more dope pushers and peddlers to the area.”

After hearing pleas from landlords of fourplexes around the proposed center at 1817 W. Neighbors Ave., City Council members on a 4-1 vote reversed an earlier unanimous denial by the Planning Commission and approved the center for one year.

If no problems are reported by the end of its first year in operation, the center may remain open.

“There is nobody who is going to rent from us now,” complained Yvonne Nyman, owner of one of the four-apartment complexes near the center’s site.

Other neighbors said they are concerned their properties will lose value, tenants will leave and new ones will be hard to find. Landowners who spoke at Tuesday’s public hearing emphasized a concern for children’s safety.

“It would bring more dope pushers and peddlers to the area. . . . Would you want your children to grow up next to a house with 16 addicts?” asked Ana Hammershoi, owner of two fourplexes. “It doesn’t leave a pretty picture on their young minds.”

But hospital officials, pointing to surveys of similar centers in Orange County, said home values did not depreciate. They also said the future tenants, who now complete their rehabilitation at Martin Luther Hospital Medical Center adjacent to the site, already “jog to a nearby park” and are a part of the area. “These people haven’t been strangers to the neighborhood,” said Dr. Keith Simpson, co-medical director.

The center, which will house 16 people after they have undergone a detoxification program at the hospital, provides a needed residential setting and helps lower costs for those undergoing treatment, hospital spokesmen said.

Now, people in the 6-year-old program undergo their entire rehabilitation at the hospital. The average cost of a day’s stay at the hospital is $360. At the center, where patients would stay 25 days, the cost would decrease to $225, Simpson said.

Hospital spokesmen emphasized that a three-to-five-day detoxification at the hospital would precede the stay at the center. Patients are “pretty selected people” who undergo a review when they’re admitted to the program, Simpson said.

Asked by a council member if the tenants would be dangerous, Simpson said, referring to the chamber’s audience, “not any more so than this crowd would be considered dangerous.”

To alleviate concerns about parking, program director Larry Jacobson said a stairway will be built from the house to the hospital, where the center’s tenants and their guests could park their cars.

Both sides presented petitions to support their positions. The neighbors collected signatures from most of the property owners around the area. The hospital collected 765 signatures from people around Orange County, including hospital employees.