Zoning board OKs rehab center

Sprenger plans facility at soccer dorms on Leavitt Road

City officials have approved a new drug and alcohol treatment facility planned at the former soccer training academy off Leavitt Road in Lorain.

The Lorain Zoning Board of Appeals on April 4 approved a conditional use permit for the treatment center planned by Sprenger Health Care Systems.

The Lorain-based health care system would renovate the inside and outside of the dormitory at 2101 All Pro Athletic Ave.

After hearing neighbors voice their concerns about the plans, the zoning board emphasized a privacy fence is critical around the perimeter of the treatment center.

On April 4, the public hearing and zoning board deliberations lasted about an hour as Mike Cloud, president of North Coast Design Build,

explained plans for Sprenger Health Care Systems.

The facility would house 40 men with a later singlestory expansion to add beds for 29 women, Cloud said.

The board also heard from residents who had questions about the nature of the facility and its location next to residential neighborhoods to the northeast, east and south.

Sprenger wants to create a facility that offers a holistic approach to addiction treatment, said Amy Sanfilippo-Steadman, Sprenger Health Care vice president of acquisitions and development.

It will be a high-end facility serving the region and comparable to treatment centers in Florida, Texas and California, Sanfilippo-Steadman said after the zoning board meeting.

The facility could be appropriate for people fighting opioid addiction in northern Ohio, she said.

However, it will not be an emergency room where police or medics are taking people for immediate care, Sanfilippo-Steadman said.

It will create about 45 jobs ranging from nurses and therapists to food service staff, she said.

In the zoning board meeting, Lorain SafetyService Director Dan Given noted Lorain police did not object to the plans.

Fire Chief Matt Homolya, a member of the zoning

board, offered several reasons for approving it.

Lorain has a need for such a facility Homolya said.

Residents are not inmates, prisoners or criminals, “they’re simply people seeking help,” he said.

Sprenger has a good reputation with its facilities in Lorain, he said.

The facility itself also will be set back far enough to avoid affecting nearby businesses, Homolya said.

Given, Homolya and zoning board member Ken Kramer voted for the permit. Zoning board member Henry Patterson abstained from the vote.

The Ohio Department of Mental Health and Addiction Services will license the facility, Cloud said.

About 20 people came

out for the hearing and meeting.

Neighbors Cori Sauvey, Chris Foisy, Thomas and Nancy Bauer, Robert Watchorn and Heather Contreras had questions for Cloud and the zoning board.

Watchorn submitted a letter and petition signed by his neighbors opposing the project.

Sauvey said her son thought a treatment center would be the worst idea ever, and she agreed.

Because the facility is surrounded by homes on three sides, Sauvey asked about policies for safety and security.

If neighbors hope to sell their property, she argued no one will knowingly buy their homes if there is a drug and alcohol treatment facility behind them.

The center could lead to an increase in local crime, Watchorn said.

Thomas Bauer said the facility and its residents would not be a good match for children and teens using the nearby athletic fields.

Ward 8 Councilman Joshua Thornsberry spoke about issues including parking and traffic due to the athletic training center there.

The treatment center will not be a “lockdown” facility in which residents are ordered to be there, Cloud said.

They will be there on a voluntary basis and can check out at will, but will not be free to come and go as they please, he said.

“I think the perception of this facility is a little bit off base,” Cloud said.

Sprenger will add a privacy fence around the site, although the company does not want to make the center look like a prison, he said.

After the zoning board vote, Sauvey said she was “just disappointed.”

There are many children who attend the sports park unaccompanied by parents, but it is unclear what could happen or who will be at the facility, Foisy said.

Sprenger Health Care is working on an exact schedule to buy the property and convert it. After the meeting, Sanfilippo-Steadman said Sprenger Health Care wants residents to feel safe and secure about the project, instead of uncertain and worried. Neighbors who have concerns about the center may call her office at 440-989-5200.