REHAB CENTER OK'D

Erlanger Board Approves Project

Transitions Inc. has cleared a major hurdle in its quest to build a
residential drug/alcohol rehabilitation center in Erlanger.

The Erlanger Board of Adjustment Monday night granted the Covington
non-profit a permit to build the 100-bed facility on Pleasure Isle
Drive.

Transitions Executive Director Mac McArthur said Transitions planned
today to close the deal to buy the property, which is just off Madison
Pike.

"I'm relieved. I'm delighted that this part of the struggle is over,"
he said Monday night.

McArthur hopes Transitions can break ground on the three-story,
28,000-square-foot facility for men in the fall. He began looking for
a site 15 months ago.

The board's 3-2 decision dismayed Pleasure Isle resident Dick Hataway,
one of at least four residents of the approximately 10 on the dead-end
street who spoke against the plan.

"It's such a disappointment," he said, adding that he would like to
appeal the decision to Kenton Circuit Court, which residents have 30
days to do.

"I don't know if we're going to, but we will talk about it a lot," he
said.

No one who spoke during the nearly five-hour meeting disputed the need
for the center. Those who opposed it just didn't like the location.

Three other proposed locations - near Rosedale Manor Nursing Home in
Latonia, on Donaldson Avenue near the Covington police station and in
a former church building in Florence - were nixed in the face of
strong opposition from residents and some city officials.

But when McArthur pitched the plan to the Erlanger City Council in
March, Mayor Marc Otto quickly agreed to write a letter of support.

City Police Chief Marc Fields also threw his support behind it,
telling City Council he didn't believe the center would lead to
increased crime or present a public safety problem. He repeated his
support Monday.

One of his subordinates, Sgt. Mike Bianchi, told the board that his
research into similar facilities overcame his initial skepticism about
the project.

"There are addicts all around us that we don't know about," he said.
"The ones we do, that are seeking treatment, are not the threat."

The board heard from graduates of similar programs such as Erlanger
resident Deon Pleasant, who said he spent many years in prison for
drug dealing until he got treatment.

To those who feared the center would expose them to drug addicts,
Pleasant said, "I'm your neighbor anyway."

Dealers and addicts leave prison all the time and return to society
without getting any treatment for their addictions, he said.

Treatment programs like the proposed one make boot camp seem like day
care, he said. Residents will be highly motivated, like him, to give
back what they have taken from society.

The board also heard emotional testimony from mothers who had lost
sons to drug addiction, as well as many social services professionals
who testified to the seven-month waiting list to get long-term
treatment in Northern Kentucky.

They also heard from clergymen, who talked about dealing with the
consequences of drug abuse.

Eugene Barbour, the pastor emeritus of Erlanger Baptist Church, talked
about his grandson, who's undergoing drug rehab in Baltimore.

Men like him "are not trash. They are not garbage. They are men made
in the image of God," Barbour said.

Aside from their concerns about safety, opponents said they feared the
center would lower property values. Pleasure Isle resident Mark Mayo
said he had talked with a Realtor who confirmed that for him.

"I haven't got a good night's sleep since I first heard this
proposal," he said.

Board Member Lucy Riffle said she didn't think the center would hurt
property values. Where there was once pasture, low-income housing now
surrounds her Erlanger home, she said, but that has not lowered the
value of her property.

Some opponents told the board they feared the project would hurt the
Fun Center at Pleasure Isle, an indoor soccer and gymnastics facility
set to open next month. The Fun Center is across Pleasure Isle Drive
and the four-lane Madison Pike from the Transitions center.

In one published report, John Schwartz, the Fun Center's developer,
said he wouldn't proceed with plans to also build a $5.5 million
soccer and baseball field complex, on 18 acres near the park-and-ride
lot off Madison Pike, if the Transitions project became a reality.

But Monday night, he said odds were that the complex would go forward
- - provided that the Transitions project didn't negatively impact the
Fun Center.

"We have to see if what we have is in jeopardy," he told the
board.

Board Chairman Ruey Newsom said he wasn't totally satisfied with all
the answers Monday's hearing yielded, but he voted for the plan anyway.

Drug abuse is a problem he feels strongly about, he said, and a
solution "has to start somewhere."

Nobody wanted the center in his backyard, said Fort Mitchell resident
Aimee Boyle, who is building a home within a mile of the Erlanger site
and spoke in favor of it.

"Eventually, someone needs to have the courage to put their own
concerns aside so we can save the lives of others," she said.