Phoenix House Kills Lake View Terrace Drug Center Proposal

Plans for a controversial drug treatment center in Lake View Terrace officially died Thursday when Phoenix House, the company behind the proposal, withdrew its application for a conditional use permit.

The news was greeted warmly by opponents in the East Valley community. They had rejoiced when Nancy Reagan bowed out of the project on May 26, then despaired when Phoenix House asked the Los Angeles City Board of Zoning Appeals for a three-month extension on its permit hearing.

An attorney representing Phoenix House at a June 20 hearing on the extension request had said there was still a remote chance the project would go forward. But Phoenix House officials said Thursday they only wanted more time to assess their finances.

$5.3 Million Raised

Since the project was first made public more than a year ago, about $5.3 million in money and pledges has been raised at various gala events attended by Nancy Reagan.

Christopher Policano, Phoenix House spokesman, said the company has determined that those donations were not tied to the Lake View Terrace site, which means the money can be used elsewhere. Policano said the company is searching for other possible center locations in Los Angeles County that would meet with Mrs. Reagan’s approval.

“We’re very disappointed about this, but it’s the end of a chapter,” he said.

Lewis Snow, vice president of the Lake View Terrace Home Owners Assn., said he knew the project was dead when Mrs. Reagan withdrew her support, saying she did not want to upset the community. Snow and other neighbors of the former hospital site had protested that the center would attract more drugs and crime to their streets and lower their property values.

‘Ready to Help’ Other Neighborhoods

“I’m happy,” said Lynne Cooper, president of the Lake View Terrace Improvement Assn. “That type of facility does not belong in a neighborhood, and if it tries to locate in one somewhere else, we’ll be ready to help.”

Phoenix House officials have denied that the conditions the community feared had materialized near any of the company’s 10 centers, which are in New York and California.

Mrs. Reagan has never announced her intention to go forward with a Nancy Reagan Center in another location. Her spokesman, Mark Weinberg, said Thursday that he did not know whether she had decided to do so. Weinberg said Mrs. Reagan could not be reached for comment.

As first described in the spring of 1988, the center was to have been the core of Mrs. Reagan’s post-White House crusade against drugs. It was to have housed 150 adolescents, 60 adults, training and research programs, and an office for Mrs. Reagan.

Phoenix House had hoped to have the center open when she returned from Washington in January but ran into delays, primarily caused by community opposition.

The 14-acre property reverts to a trustee who was appointed by a federal judge to oversee sale of the hospital after it declared bankruptcy in 1986. Councilman Ernani Bernardi, a frequent Phoenix House critic, has proposed that the city buy the property for use as a municipal senior center, library and recreation center.