ANSWERS FROM PATHWAYS

Delray Beach commissioners must perform a delicate balancing act in a
stormy atmosphere tonight when they consider plans to expand a drug
treatment center.

Dozens of angry residents are expected to protest the controversial
Pathways to Recovery project. Besides the typical pleas that an enlarged
center will drive down property values, the neighborhood groups also point
to the proximity of Banyan Creek Elementary School. They argue that drug
addicts and school kids should not share the same borders.

Allen Bombart, the facility's owner, has become an issue himself. Three
times since 1986, he has been arrested on cocaine possession charges, the
last in 1997 when he was sentenced to 18 months' probation. Mr. Bombart
also runs a beachfront treatment center called K Kove off State Road A1A.
His business has been lucrative. With rates ranging from $575 to $1,195 per
day and clients coming from across the country, the center turned a profit
of about $3 million last year, according to the state Department of
Children and Families.

Mr. Bombart had planned to expand his Pathways operation on Barwick Road
from 10 beds to 106 beds, building three two-story dormitories on the
3.5-acre site. He has scaled back those plans at the city's insistence,
contemplating instead a 60-bed facility. He also has promised to install
fencing around the property and a security system. Mr. Bombart acknowledges
that he is himself a recovering addict, and that he relapsed three years
ago. He says because of his felony record he intends to sign his substance
abuse treatment license over to an associate who would take over running
the center.

Neighbors can give the concessions little more than mixed reviews. Mr.
Bombart's clients have been a nuisance for years, some residents say,
pointing to what they say are incidents of trespassing, loitering and
littering. Exactly who will be running the facility if Mr. Bombart
transfers his license, they ask? And what good does a for-profit clinic
that gets most of its clients from outside Delray Beach do the community?

These are legitimate questions. The burden for providing satisfactory
answers falls squarely on Mr. Bombart. He owes residents a clear picture of
what he intends to bring to the neighborhood. If he cannot provide
reasonable assurances his center will be a good neighbor, expanding it is a
bad idea. Any close call should go to the residents.