NOT IN OUR NEIGHBORHOOD

Wrangle Over Proposed Women's Drug-And-Alcohol Treatment Center in
North Chico Heads to Chico City Council Oct. 18

"We were absolutely ignored. We were dismissed as NIMBY hate-mongers
who don't want sick people to get treatment," said Lynn Cardwell,
spokeswoman for Protect North Esplanade, which has appealed the Chico
Planning Commission's approval of a women's drug-and-alcohol
treatment facility in north Chico.

"Two commissioners [Daniel Allmon and Kathy Barrett] said, 'All I'm
hearing is a lot of NIMBYism,' " Cardwell continued. "Mr. Allmon
chastised us to be more welcoming and be a good role model for these people."

Cardwell was referring to the Sept. 15 commission meeting at which
she and about two dozen others spoke in opposition to the
commission's approval of the Skyway House rehab facility's move from
Oroville to a site on The Esplanade between Amber Grove and Greenfield drives.

Cardwell and her group, which includes her husband, Robert, fellow
residents of the Amber Grove neighborhood and some from other
north-Chico neighborhoods, will square off against Skyway House
representatives at the Oct. 18 Chico City Council meeting.

Cardwell insists that the proposed facility does not conform to the
wording of the city's new general plan.

"[The plan is] filled with lofty goals about protecting neighborhoods
and not doing any harm to 'corridor opportunity sites,' " she said.
(Those sites include the north Esplanade area.) "But is the general
plan just words, or does it actually have teeth to it?"

As stated in its appeal application, Protect North Esplanade's
concerns over relocating the rehab facility to 3105 Esplanade-in the
building formerly occupied by Montessori Elementary School-include
that the proposed use of the site would be "detrimental to the
health, safety and general welfare of persons residing and working in
or visiting the neighborhoods of the proposed use" and "detrimental
and/or injurious to property and improvements in the neighborhoods of
the proposed use."

The group also argues that there was a failure on the Planning
Commission's part "to address the potential impacts that the state of
California's realignment of its prison population (AB 109) will have
on proposed use."

AB 109, the Public Safety Realignment Act, mandates that those
convicted of nonviolent, nonsexual and nonserious crimes go to county
jail rather than state prison. That means some nonviolent offenders
could be released to day-reporting centers and residential-treatment
facilities.

"People don't understand what the impact of this will be," Cardwell
said. "Our biggest fear is that the nature of the clients at these
facilities [the proposed Skyway House, The Well and Esplanade House]
is going to change."

"The opposition has absolutely no factual information as to why we
shouldn't locate our program at 3105 Esplanade," said Jennifer
Carvalho, Skyway House's executive director. "Their objections are
based on fear and misinformation."

Carvalho called the opposition's claim that the facility's clients
will jeopardize neighborhood residents, especially families and
children visiting nearby Peterson Park, the "most offensive" of their
objections.

"The reality is our women walk through the front door of our facility
and stay for 30, 60, 90, 120 days," she said. "They're not going to
go wandering over to the park in the afternoon."

Clients are voluntary and pay $3,000 per month for treatment at the
facility, which is currently licensed for 22 women through the
California Department of Alcohol and Drug Programs, Carvalho said.
The women, she explained, are up at 7 a.m. every day and busy until
bedtime with treatment activities. The only breaks are for meals.

Carvalho said she believes the 1.25-acre north-Esplanade property is
a good fit for the facility, as it is "ideal for treatment-serene,
quiet, [has] valley oaks, a meditation garden, irrigated garden
boxes" and plenty of playground equipment for the women's children
when they visit on weekends.

"There's a real stigma attached to treatment, and I think that's
because people assume that drug addicts make a choice to do what they
do," said Carvalho. "But the reality is that when people are making
choices to get treatment and improve their lives, that stigma sounds
a lot like discrimination."

But the opposition is convinced the proposed facility will have a
detrimental impact on local neighborhoods.

"It's 1.25 acres on north Esplanade," said Cardwell, "and they're
going to put 22 clients, five staff, 17 parking spaces and a total of
7,600 square feet of construction on it and still try to call it a
serene and tranquil environment. I think it's important to realize
that while some of their clients may be there because they sincerely
want to make changes in their lives, AB 109 is a game-changer. Nobody
knows exactly what AB 109 is going to do."