Phoenix House Still May Open Drug Center, Lawyer Says

An attorney representing Phoenix House said Tuesday that there is still a chance that the nonprofit corporation will proceed with plans to open a drug treatment center in Lake View Terrace, confirming neighbors’ suspicions.

“The situation isn’t certain yet. . . . There is still a possibility we would continue with that site,” said attorney Chris D. Ozeroff after the Los Angeles Board of Zoning Appeals granted a nine-week postponement of a hearing involving the project.

Ozeroff’s statement contradicted assurances made three weeks ago by a spokesman for the nonprofit corporation soon after former First Lady Nancy Reagan withdrew from the project.

At that time, spokesman Chris Polanco said Phoenix House would abandon the former Lake View Terrace Medical Center site and look for one Mrs. Reagan deemed more suitable. Mrs. Reagan had said through her spokesman that neighborhood opposition persuaded her to pull out of the 210-bed center and research and training institute--scheduled to be named the Nancy Reagan Center.

Active Opposition

“The battle is still on,” said Lynne Cooper, president of the Lake View Terrace Improvement Assn., which has actively opposed the center for more than a year. “I never trusted Phoenix House after our first meeting with them, so there’s no reason to start now.”

The first indication that Phoenix House officials might have reconsidered their stance surfaced Friday, when they requested a 30-day extension from a scheduled June 27 hearing appealing a zoning administrator’s ruling in favor of the site. On Tuesday, Ozeroff--an attorney with the active City Hall lobbying firm of Latham & Watkins--asked that that extension be doubled, and the board granted a nine-week postponement.

Attorneys need time to determine whether the $5.3 million in money and pledges raised for the center during the past year is legally tied to the Lake View Terrace location or can be transferred to another site, Ozeroff confirmed. Phoenix House officials have estimated that it would take $10 million to $11 million to buy and renovate the bankrupt hospital’s buildings.

The $5.3 million was raised at several celebrity-studded events attended by Mrs. Reagan. So far, Mrs. Reagan has not committed to lending her name to another Phoenix House site.

Drug Effort

Suzanne Marx, who has headed fund raising as national campaign chairwoman for the Nancy Reagan Center, said Mrs. Reagan wants the money to go toward her “Just Say No” to drugs effort either at a center or elsewhere. When donors have asked about center plans, Marx said she tells them: “I’m dedicated to helping Nancy Reagan keep kids away from drugs. . . . We’re going forward with our work because the young people need it so much.”

Lake View Terrace residents who attended Tuesday’s Board of Zoning Appeals hearing had mixed reactions to Ozeroff’s comments and the hearing postponement. They have said consistently that they fear such a center will attract drugs and crime and lower their property values.

Jerry Zimmer, a member of the Lake View Terrace Improvement Assn., delivered a written statement to the board that said that without Mrs. Reagan’s backing “the proposed use for the site will obviously be substantially altered” and, therefore, Phoenix House should be required to begin the city permit process again with a new application.

However, Lewis Snow, vice president of the Lake View Terrace Home Owners Assn., said his conversation with another Latham & Watkins attorney reassured him that the delay would not mean a resurrection of center plans.

‘Won’t Happen’

“The project is dead. It won’t happen,” Snow said.

Snow had supported the hearing’s postponement, with the stipulation that Phoenix House promise not to continue with plans at the Lake View Terrace site. Ozeroff said the corporation could not agree to such a stipulation because it needs to keep its options open.

Within days of Mrs. Reagan’s announcement, Phoenix House officials notified the Bankruptcy Court-appointed trustee who controls Lake View Medical Center of their intent to cancel the purchase option. But that withdrawal is not yet official because it has not been reviewed by a federal bankruptcy judge.