PORT ANGELES — A dozen people spoke in favor of a proposed residential drug and alcohol treatment clinic while two opposed it at a Port Angeles Planning Commission hearing this week.
Supporters cited an urgent need for inpatient substance abuse treatment on the North Olympic Peninsula.
“The need is incredible here,” Mike Flynn, who has worked as a chemical dependency counselor in Clallam County for 14 years, told the commission Wednesday night.
“I average 150 patients a year, and I’ve only been scratching the surface.”
Two area residents spoke against the clinic, proposed for the former site of an adult care home at 825 E. Fifth St. at the intersection of Fifth and Race streets.
One of them was Clallam County resident Duane Benedict, who said he owns property near the clinic.
He fears it might lower the values of surrounding properties.
He also said he was uncomfortable with the idea of such a facility being so close to houses, apartments and a large city park.
Civic Field and Erickson Playfield lie to the northwest along Race Street between Fourth and Second streets.
“I just don’t feel that putting this center here is in the best interests of the area,” Benedict said.
Public hearing
Between 30 and 40 people showed up to the public hearing on a conditional-use permit needed for the 16-bed, abstinence-based chemical dependency treatment center for Medicaid adults.
Specialty Services, which would run the center for voluntary clients, also would seek to open a separate 16-bed detoxification center in the same building, said Speciality Services Director Sally Beaven.
“We would like to get that going as soon as possible, so we want to figure out a way,” she said of the detox center, which would be dependent on additional funding.
City resident Bruce O’Rourke said he has worked at Olympic Medical Center and has experience with patients going through the detox process.
He said he feared the clinic’s neighbors would hear clients and be disturbed by them.
Hearing continued
Planning commissioners took no action on the permit application and continued the public hearing to their June 25 meeting, when they are expected to vote on it, said Sue Roberds, city planning manager.
The public hearing has been extended to a second meeting because the hearing date was originally omitted from the required meeting notice, she said.
The Planning Commission can approve conditional-use permits outright without City Council involvement, she added.
The June 25 meeting will be held in the council chambers at City Hall, 321 E. Fifth St.
Beaven was joined at the Wednesday meeting by Craig Phillips, business manager and owner of Spokane-based American Behavioral Health Systems, which started Specialty Services as an independent pilot project.
Phillips said a $450,000 grant from the state Department of Social and Health Services was used to purchase the Fifth Street building and will fund interior renovations.
Need for center
Gayle McCormick, director of Reflections Counseling Services, an outpatient substance abuse treatment clinic just east of Port Angeles, said the area has a strong outpatient recovery system but needs a residential facility so patients do not need to be sent off the Peninsula for treatment.
“We have a large recovery community here,” McCormick said.
“We really need a residential center to make it all work.”
Letters from the public
City planning staff received 14 letters from members of the local treatment community, health professionals and members of the public supporting the clinic.
Five letters were opposed to the facility. They expressed worry that clients at the clinic would be a drain on the local community once they completed treatment.
Letter writers also expressed concern that those suffering from drug or alcohol addiction leaving the clinic could be dangerous to surrounding residents.
Beaven, who ran the Speciality Services clinic in Chehalis that would move to Port Angeles, said the clinic would be staffed 24 hours every day and that clients would not be allowed to leave the building without escorts.
Windows and doors also would be alarmed, she said, so staff would know when any are opened.
“We do this well, and we’ve done this before, and this is not the first time,” she said.
Ron Plute, who works at First Church of God across Race Street from the proposed clinic, said he has known people addicted to drugs in the past and said most know they need and want help.
In complete support
“We are in complete support of this,” Plute said.
“I don’t see anything to fear.”
About 100 beds are in the building now. Planning Commissioner Thomas Davis asked if eventually the facility would fill those.
Most of the beds sit at either end of the building, according to the architectural plan, with a hallway separating them.
Beaven said the clinic will be limited by state regulations to 16 beds for the treatment center and 16 beds for the detoxification clinic.
“Those rooms are empty and, as far as I know, will remain empty,” Beaven said.
Some empty beds might be used for clients who may need space apart from others as part of their treatment, she said.
Commissioner Duane Morris asked where the clients would come from.
Beaven said the clinic will be geared toward Peninsula clients, adding that clinic staff can ask that local people be prioritized for the Port Angeles facility through a statewide referral system.
Other areas’ clients
The clinic, though, could potentially receive clients from other areas if the need is great enough, she added.
“If I have 13 beds full of local people and a couple of empty beds, and calls are coming in from someone in need, I want to be able to take them,” Beaven said.
The Port Angeles clinic also will take those clients currently in treatment at the Chehalis Speciality Services facility, which will close, she said.
Transportation back home would be provided for any Chehalis clients as they complete the program, shesaid.
Beaven emphasized that all clients will be there voluntarily.
“They’re there to change their lives and get clean and sober,” she said.
She said she was thankful of all the support and appreciated the questions and concerns raised at the meeting.
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Reporter Jeremy Schwartz can be reached at 360-452-2345, ext. 5074, or at jschwartz@peninsuladailynews.com.
