Mental health facility approved

Yuba City to host psychiatric, mental health rehabilitation center

Yuba City officials approved plans last month to establish a psychiatric health facility and mental health rehabilitation center on Stabler Lane in Yuba City.

Members of the Yuba City Planning Commission approved a California Environmental Quality Act exemption and use permit for the facility that will be located at 1251 Stabler Lane. The facility was built in 1989 and served as a psychiatric hospital up until it closed in 2008. The facility is expected to add up to 50 jobs that pay above average wages, make use of a currently vacant building, and provide a much-needed service to up to 25 Northern California counties that will contract with the operation, according to information from the meeting minutes.

The facility will be run by Willow Glenn Care Center and North Valley Be

havioral Health.

“This will be a great employer and really good for the area. We need stuff like this, it being a big employer with better than average salaries,” said Dale Eyeler, chairman of the planning commission. “The other thing it does is provide

a service needed across the state, especially in Northern California.”

Stabler Rehab will include a 56-60-unit facility licensed by the state, including some outpatient services on site. It will be locked at all times with staff on site 24/7. About 20 percent of the facility’s clientele will be from the Yuba-sutter area, with the rest coming from the other contracting counties around the

region.

The typical patient will be someone in need of assistance due to mental health issues, while there will also be a 16-bed psychiatric health facility. The mental health wing will have a staff to patient ratio of 1 to 5, while the psychiatric health facility will have a ratio of 1 to 3.

Commissioner Richard Doscher said the facility is much needed for people

in need of crisis and general mental health, and that the parent companies such as Willow Glen are impressive facilities that don’t drain public services.

Operators told the planning commission that only minor facility changes were needed to meet current codes, but did not provide a timeline as to when they expected to become operational.