By Lea Kahn, Staff Writer
LAWRENCE — A proposed detoxification center on Federal City Road has pitted neighbors against the property owner, amid fears of crime and the spector of drug- and alcohol-addicted clients roaming the Federal Hill and the Traditions at Federal Point neighborhoods.
But John Simone, a principal in the Simone Investment Group LLC that owns the property at 100 Federal City Road, sought to allay those concerns by pointing out that Sunrise Center is geared toward wealthy clients who can afford the $1,700-per-day treatment.
Mr. Simone is seeking a use variance to permit the residential detoxification center in 12,000 square feet of a vacant 17,000-square-foot building that is one of three in the office complex. A use variance is needed because residential substance abuse detoxification center is not a permitted use in the Professional Office zone.
A public hearing on the use variance application is set for the township Zoning Board of Adjustment’s Sept. 17 meeting, which starts at 7:30 p.m. at the Municipal Building.
Sunrise Center, which has facilities in Stirling, N.J. and Lake Worth, Fla., is a short-term medical facility that specializes in medical stabilization of patients with substance abuse diagnoses, according to the application on file at the Community Development Department. The center does not accept criminal or psychiatrically unstable patients.
Mr. Simone said his firm was contacted by Sunrise Center to see what was available. He said he was initially skeptical and hesitant because he did not know much about the business, but when he visited the Stirling facility, he said he came away “impressed” with the operation.
Sunrise Center is the first phase of addiction treatment, Mr. Simone said. The average stay would be less than one week, and clients would be referred to another facility for additional help. Sunrise Center was attracted to the Lawrence location because of its proximity to the Philadelphia and Newark airports and the new hospitals under construction by Capital Health Systems and Princeton Healthcare, he added.
Mr. Simone said that Sunrise Center does not accept criminals or persons who have been ordered by a judge to seek substance abuse treatment. Those folks may have substance abuse issues, “but that’s not what this (center) is,” he said.
”This is a very expensive, private-pay facility that costs $1,700 a day. It’s a pretty upscale clientele that can take advantage of it,” he said, adding that when he requested a client profile, Sunrise Center said its clientele includes movie stars, physicians and corporate executives.
There would be 38 beds for the clients, who enter on a voluntary basis. There would be flat-screen TVs, Internet service, common recreation areas and a commercial kitchen. It would be staffed around the clock. Clients are not permitted to have cars. They would be transported to and from the facility by the staff.
”They won’t walk all over the neighborhood,” Mr. Simone said. There are security measures, such as alarms on the doors and security cameras, because the staff needs to know where the clients are located at all times, he said. Most of the client’s days will be filled with treatment, education and analysis.
But the neighbors of the adjacent Traditions at Federal Point and the Federal Hill neighborhoods are not convinced that it would be a compatible use. They expressed concerns about increased crime and increased traffic from the delivery trucks that would be needed by the residential treatment facility. Residents of the Traditions age-restricted development pointed out that the only entrance and exit to their development is shared with the office park.
Mary Baird, who lives on Traditions Way, said the Sunrise Center facility in Stirling is located on a much larger parcel that it is secluded and located away from neighboring homes. She also said she was concerned that the proposed detoxification center might want to expand and occupy the rest of the building in a few years.
”These are our homes, our neighborhood and our taxes that make this a nice town to live in,” Ms. Baird said.
Janice Buckley, who lives on Karena Lane in the Federal Hill single-family-home development, said “it is not” in the (township) Master Plan to have a 24-hour-a-day residential detoxification center. The Master Plan sets out the vision for the municipality, but the zoning ordinance implements it.
”We don’t want anybody with drug issues. We don’t care if it’s Lindsay Lohan or Rush Limbaugh,” said Karena Lane resident Carole Drury. She added that as a mother of three children, she would not purchase a house near a detoxification center.
”We don’t want it. It doesn’t matter how rich (the clients) are,” Ms. Drury said.
Marvin Vanhise, who lives on Federal City Road and who is a retired Municipal Court judge, also questioned the proposal. He pointed out that if the use variance is granted, it is “in perpetuity” and cannot be revoked.
”(The detoxification center) certainly is not a benign use,” he said.
Mr. Vanhise also challenged the assertion that clients would not have a criminal background. Citing privacy laws, he said it would be difficult to conduct a criminal background investigation on someone who is being treated for substance abuse.
”I don’t know how they are going to screen these people. I don’t know what stage these people will be in. Without some sort of secure facility, they can be admitted at 11 p.m. and walk out at 11:10 p.m. It’s a voluntary commitment,” said Mr. Vanhise, who was the Municipal Court judge in the Robbinsville, Hightstown and Bordentown municipal courts.
But Mr. Simone reiterated his belief that Sunrise Center would be good, noting that his firm’s office is in the same office park and he does not have security concerns. He said the office park has many medical offices, and that it would be a “great use” of the vacant building.
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