HOBART, WI (WTAQ-WLUK) – One of Brown County’s largest residential homes could become a recovery center for drug and alcohol addicts under a proposal from a Tennessee-based healthcare provider, but residents are concerned about what could be coming to their neighborhood.
The home is in Hobart and listed for sale at $3.49 million.
Not far from Highway 29’s Hillcrest Road exit, the 16,392 square foot home has sat mostly empty since being built 20 years ago.
“What a waste,” said John Flanagan of Summit Behavioral Health. “We feel like we can create a very great therapeutic environment.”
Summit Behavioral Health wants to turn the mansion into Green Bay Recovery Center — a place for drug and alcohol addicts that voluntarily want to get better. The same company owns and operates Willow Creek Behavioral Health on Green Bay’s far east side.
“We’ll be treating people like me, people like you, your family members that are struggling with substance abuse,” said Flanagan. “If they’re homicidal, suicidal, psychotic, that is exclusionary criteria. They won’t be admitted.”
Flanagan says a benefit of having both facilities in the same region will help get people the most appropriate care more efficiently.
The plans call for there to eventually be 48 beds. Staff would be on site 24/7 with no fewer than two employees ever at the facility, according to Flanagan.
There would be a new driveway built off Centennial Centre Boulevard to help ease traffic concerns.
“I would ask you guys as board members, if you’d like this plopped right in your backyard, where you’re having 48 people every 30 days that have issues being cycled through here?” said Keith Boye of Hobart during Wednesday evening’s Planning and Zoning Commission meeting.
“Criminals run up and down your street all the time,” said David Johnson, a commission member. “You live in nice houses, guess what? They’re checking them out….This moving in? Yeah, I can understand where you’re thinking it may increase your chances, but they’re already there.”
Besides safety, nearby residents are also concerned about declining property values and privacy.
The village’s Planning and Zoning Commission forwarded the recovery provider’s conditional use permit request to the full village board without a recommendation.
The full village board is expected to vote on the request after a public hearing on June 4. Before that, Hobart police plan to vet five of the company’s other recovery centers and see if this would cause increased traffic on Centennial Centre Boulevard.
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