Potential facility runs afoul with residents

PARADISE » More than 100 people filled the Paradise Town Council Chambers on Wednesday night to hear from a potential landlord who wants to put a mental health facility at Feather Canyon Gracious Retirement Living site.

Currently, the site which is on the Feather River Hospital campus is an escrow between Adventist health and a group led by Chico developer Doug Guillion.

Resident Diana Dawn Nellis-Siler, in a Facebook post to the group “Say no to Feather Canyon,” asserted that Gillion had told her that he is definitely planning to put a long-term mental health service, which may include a lockdown drug rehab at the site.

However, Mark Breckle, who said he was a landlord there on behalf of Guillion, spoke to residents in a two-hour meeting that was hosted by the town of Paradise but organized by residents, said at times it felt like he was getting his teeth kicked in — and that mental health site was one of the options.

The other option was a single occupancy resident facility. He added that such a facility would be an opportunity for those who are working on the Paradise rebuild, like construction workers and Pacific Gas and Electric Co. workers. There are 100 beds on site, Breckle said.

He repeatedly told the audience that the facility would not house homeless people. But he also

said that if in fact, the site became a place to house the mentally ill, it would not include those who are violent.

Town Manager Kevin Phillips noted at the meeting that in order for the facility to be put in, the area in which it sits would need a rezone from the planning commission and potentially the Paradise Town Council.

Philip stressed to the crowd in attendance that right now it is a private business deal between

Adventist Health and Gullion’s group.

While Breckle told the audience that the town has been informed of what they were doing all along, that ran into some headwinds from Phillips who addressed that point saying while the the town has been in communication with the group the whole time, he didn’t have specifics.

In fact, he said that the town knew about as much as the general public knew about the plans for the Feather River Canyon retirement home.

Breckle said the reason the town and the county, which included Supervisor Doug Teeter, doesn’t know more than they know, is because he himself doesn’t know more than what anyone else does.

If the sale survives escrow any proposed facility would have to come up to the planning commission. Members of the crowd offered to create a committee to work with Breckle and Gullion to find acceptable uses for the property, of which Breckle said he was agreeable.