ORANGE : Council Rejects Recovery Home

One month after the Planning Commission approved a recovery home for female substance abusers and their children, the City Council this week rejected the project.

The residential drug and alcohol recovery home would have been the first of its kind in Orange County.

The home, proposed by the Southeast Council of Alcoholism and Drug Problems Inc., would have housed up to 15 mothers and 19 children during a six-month rehabilitation program in the historic Royer Mansion at 307 E. Chapman Ave., across from City Hall.

But downtown merchants who opposed the treatment center during a 2 1/2-hour public hearing argued that the recovery home did not belong on the commercial strip along Chapman Avenue. Some opponents said the 85-year-old Royer Mansion would not provide a safe residence for children, but most argued that a recovery home would be inappropriate in a commercial district and would have displaced 14 businesses housed at the site.

Realtor Al Ricci, who filed an appeal against the project, said placing the treatment center in a commercial area would erode the business district merchants had worked hard to build.

“Downtown has to build a strong commercial base, not lose it,” Ricci said. “We appeal not because we don’t think the program is a good program . . . but we don’t think that the Royer Mansion is the right location for the use.”

Lynne Appel, executive director of the Southeast Council, said she is disappointed and surprised by the council’s decision after the project had received the unanimous support of the Planning Commission.

“I’m disappointed because I feel that business interests had so much of an impact on the direction of the City Council,” Appel said. “I feel that the reason opposition of business is so strong is because of a ‘not-in-my-back-yard’ syndrome and then partially because they feel it’s not good for business downtown.”

Appel said funding for the project could be in jeopardy if another site is not found soon.

“The county of Orange could lose out on the ability to provide service to substance-abusing mothers and their children,” she said. Only about 23 rehabilitation centers in the state allow children and none of Orange County’s three centers do.