Anonymous
03/23/2025 17:25
Subject: For-profit Level 3.5 addiction/MH ctr next to mcps school
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:I worked at an mcps school next to a drug/rehab facility. We would have patients wandering into the building and scare the crap out of everyone, resulting in calls to the police. There will eventually be an issue between a resident and a community member.
+1
And while the doors to the school are presumably locked, what will the school do when people are wandering around the playground?
If you know the school, you realize there is a walking path that cuts through the school's playground and fields to a wooded area that essentially surrounds the back of the school. This path will be the logical walkway for residents of the treatment facility who want to go for a walk or head to the shopping centers in the heart of Olney. Practically speaking, it isn't safe to walk along Georgia Avenue from Tanterra, so people use the path that takes you to 7-11 and the shopping centers.
There will be issues.
Anyone who says there won't be any issues is either clueless or a liar.
The business needs of this company (which isn't even a local company, apparently) should not take precedence over the school and the neighborhood community.
If you haven't signed the petition, please sign it. And if you live in the area, please attend the meeting at the school later this week.
PS - the amount of disinformation coming from the councilmember and her staff is alarming. Multiple people have reached out to the County's Planning staff and others and discovered this company is leveraging a loophole and operating in a dishonest way. The county council can take action, but they are saying their hands are tied. The takeaway should be that they are in the pocket of developers and for-profit businesses rather than making commonsense decisions for the community.
My understanding of MOCO zoning laws is that this might be by-right. If the loophole is legally dubious someone should hire a land-use attorney to see if you can challenge this decision.
The big Florida-based for-profit company retained all the usual suspect law firms/lawyers to conflict them out precisely so the HOA couldn’t find a lawyer to fight back.
Anonymous
03/23/2025 16:04
Subject: For-profit Level 3.5 addiction/MH ctr next to mcps school
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:I worked at an mcps school next to a drug/rehab facility. We would have patients wandering into the building and scare the crap out of everyone, resulting in calls to the police. There will eventually be an issue between a resident and a community member.
+1
And while the doors to the school are presumably locked, what will the school do when people are wandering around the playground?
If you know the school, you realize there is a walking path that cuts through the school's playground and fields to a wooded area that essentially surrounds the back of the school. This path will be the logical walkway for residents of the treatment facility who want to go for a walk or head to the shopping centers in the heart of Olney. Practically speaking, it isn't safe to walk along Georgia Avenue from Tanterra, so people use the path that takes you to 7-11 and the shopping centers.
There will be issues.
Anyone who says there won't be any issues is either clueless or a liar.
The business needs of this company (which isn't even a local company, apparently) should not take precedence over the school and the neighborhood community.
If you haven't signed the petition, please sign it. And if you live in the area, please attend the meeting at the school later this week.
PS - the amount of disinformation coming from the councilmember and her staff is alarming. Multiple people have reached out to the County's Planning staff and others and discovered this company is leveraging a loophole and operating in a dishonest way. The county council can take action, but they are saying their hands are tied. The takeaway should be that they are in the pocket of developers and for-profit businesses rather than making commonsense decisions for the community.
My understanding of MOCO zoning laws is that this might be by-right. If the loophole is legally dubious someone should hire a land-use attorney to see if you can challenge this decision.
Anonymous
03/23/2025 15:36
Subject: For-profit Level 3.5 addiction/MH ctr next to mcps school
Anonymous wrote:I worked at an mcps school next to a drug/rehab facility. We would have patients wandering into the building and scare the crap out of everyone, resulting in calls to the police. There will eventually be an issue between a resident and a community member.
+1
And while the doors to the school are presumably locked, what will the school do when people are wandering around the playground?
If you know the school, you realize there is a walking path that cuts through the school's playground and fields to a wooded area that essentially surrounds the back of the school. This path will be the logical walkway for residents of the treatment facility who want to go for a walk or head to the shopping centers in the heart of Olney. Practically speaking, it isn't safe to walk along Georgia Avenue from Tanterra, so people use the path that takes you to 7-11 and the shopping centers.
There will be issues.
Anyone who says there won't be any issues is either clueless or a liar.
The business needs of this company (which isn't even a local company, apparently) should not take precedence over the school and the neighborhood community.
If you haven't signed the petition, please sign it. And if you live in the area, please attend the meeting at the school later this week.
PS - the amount of disinformation coming from the councilmember and her staff is alarming. Multiple people have reached out to the County's Planning staff and others and discovered this company is leveraging a loophole and operating in a dishonest way. The county council can take action, but they are saying their hands are tied. The takeaway should be that they are in the pocket of developers and for-profit businesses rather than making commonsense decisions for the community.
Anonymous
03/23/2025 15:24
Subject: For-profit Level 3.5 addiction/MH ctr next to mcps school
I worked at an mcps school next to a drug/rehab facility. We would have patients wandering into the building and scare the crap out of everyone, resulting in calls to the police. There will eventually be an issue between a resident and a community member.
Anonymous
03/22/2025 18:42
Subject: For-profit Level 3.5 addiction/MH ctr next to mcps school
Anonymous wrote:The untreated addict who lives next door is a far greater risk to you than those in structured treatment.
That is a non-sequitur and irrelevant. The cumulative risk of 16 people with substance abuse issues living in the neighborhood is much higher than one untreated person next door.
Anonymous
03/22/2025 18:23
Subject: Re:For-profit Level 3.5 addiction/MH ctr next to mcps school
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:I have two kids who go to this school and am extremely disturbed by what I am hearing from parents arguing against this center. There is no evidence that people with substance abuse disorders in treatment are a danger to children in a school. This is not a facility for child predators. I know several people in drug treatment and they are human beings just like the rest of us. There is enough cruelty in our world and in the DMV in particular right now including toward people with mental illnesses and disabilities. The true colors of some in our community are really showing and it is sad.
Did you miss the part about clients with impulse control issues and serious mental health issues?
You seem to think the residents will be akin to real housewives who overdo the wine or pop pills. That won’t be the case.
And you presumably don’t live next to the property. Imagine 16+ patients plus staff and vendors and deliveries coming and going at all hours…because that’s what happens. It’s a large-scale for-profit business, not a small group home.
Go sit in the ER waiting room at Montgomery General tonight between 10pm and midnight and report back. The folks you see there are strikingly similar to who will be living at the project alongside the school.
This is a lot of emotional and dramatic language absent facts. I'm not sure why you keep mentioning impulse control other than to scare people. How do you know the patients have impulse control problems? Mental illness and drug addiction in treatmenr does not equate to harming children.
Drug addiction is an impulse control disorder by definition. I am sick an tired of clueless pretentious people ruining our neighborhoods because they have never dealt with reality in their extremely privileged lives. Anyone who grew up in or has family in economically depressed area knows that you do not want a drug addiction treatment center next to an elementary school or a residential neighborhood The data is clear that people with substance abuse issues are 5x-10x more likely to commit a violent crime! Any who has lived in an economically depressed area knows that many if not most of the crimes are committed by people addicted to drugs. https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC7879597/
https://bjs.ojp.gov/content/pub/pdf/DRRC.PDF
People that live nearby this center needs to make extremely detailed notes (collect video evidence) of the facilities operations, zoning violations, and general conduct to make a case for a civil lawsuit. If you can bankrupt the business with a lawsuit, it will be forced to close and people wont mess with your neighborhood or elementary school again.
Anonymous
03/22/2025 17:06
Subject: Re:For-profit Level 3.5 addiction/MH ctr next to mcps school
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:I have two kids who go to this school and am extremely disturbed by what I am hearing from parents arguing against this center. There is no evidence that people with substance abuse disorders in treatment are a danger to children in a school. This is not a facility for child predators. I know several people in drug treatment and they are human beings just like the rest of us. There is enough cruelty in our world and in the DMV in particular right now including toward people with mental illnesses and disabilities. The true colors of some in our community are really showing and it is sad.
Did you miss the part about clients with impulse control issues and serious mental health issues?
You seem to think the residents will be akin to real housewives who overdo the wine or pop pills. That won’t be the case.
And you presumably don’t live next to the property. Imagine 16+ patients plus staff and vendors and deliveries coming and going at all hours…because that’s what happens. It’s a large-scale for-profit business, not a small group home.
Go sit in the ER waiting room at Montgomery General tonight between 10pm and midnight and report back. The folks you see there are strikingly similar to who will be living at the project alongside the school.
This is a lot of emotional and dramatic language absent facts. I'm not sure why you keep mentioning impulse control other than to scare people. How do you know the patients have impulse control problems? Mental illness and drug addiction in treatmenr does not equate to harming children.
Sigh.
Google the project. The parent company. They say who they treat.
Google what a Level 3.5 facility is for (or read the copied language posted by someone else upthread). It’s for seriously ill people—including those with impulse control issues…hence the need for 24/7 supervision and treatment.
It’s not a spa. It’s not just a group home. It’s a 24/7 treatment facility for seriously mentally ill and addicted people.
Go sit in the er and watch the mentally ill people who show up each night. It’s a thing. My heart goes out to those people, but they don’t belong next to a school.
Anonymous
03/22/2025 13:29
Subject: Re:For-profit Level 3.5 addiction/MH ctr next to mcps school
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:I have two kids who go to this school and am extremely disturbed by what I am hearing from parents arguing against this center. There is no evidence that people with substance abuse disorders in treatment are a danger to children in a school. This is not a facility for child predators. I know several people in drug treatment and they are human beings just like the rest of us. There is enough cruelty in our world and in the DMV in particular right now including toward people with mental illnesses and disabilities. The true colors of some in our community are really showing and it is sad.
Did you miss the part about clients with impulse control issues and serious mental health issues?
You seem to think the residents will be akin to real housewives who overdo the wine or pop pills. That won’t be the case.
And you presumably don’t live next to the property. Imagine 16+ patients plus staff and vendors and deliveries coming and going at all hours…because that’s what happens. It’s a large-scale for-profit business, not a small group home.
Go sit in the ER waiting room at Montgomery General tonight between 10pm and midnight and report back. The folks you see there are strikingly similar to who will be living at the project alongside the school.
This is a lot of emotional and dramatic language absent facts. I'm not sure why you keep mentioning impulse control other than to scare people. How do you know the patients have impulse control problems? Mental illness and drug addiction in treatmenr does not equate to harming children.
Anonymous
03/22/2025 12:52
Subject: Re:For-profit Level 3.5 addiction/MH ctr next to mcps school
Level 3.5 (Clinically Managed High-Intensity Residential Services) involves high-intensity programs for adults who cannot be treated outside of a 24/7 facility due to severe physical or psychological problems or severe impulse control problems, or because they display dangerous symptoms that require 24-hour monitoring
Anonymous
03/22/2025 12:43
Subject: Re:For-profit Level 3.5 addiction/MH ctr next to mcps school
Anonymous wrote:I have two kids who go to this school and am extremely disturbed by what I am hearing from parents arguing against this center. There is no evidence that people with substance abuse disorders in treatment are a danger to children in a school. This is not a facility for child predators. I know several people in drug treatment and they are human beings just like the rest of us. There is enough cruelty in our world and in the DMV in particular right now including toward people with mental illnesses and disabilities. The true colors of some in our community are really showing and it is sad.
Did you miss the part about clients with impulse control issues and serious mental health issues?
You seem to think the residents will be akin to real housewives who overdo the wine or pop pills. That won’t be the case.
And you presumably don’t live next to the property. Imagine 16+ patients plus staff and vendors and deliveries coming and going at all hours…because that’s what happens. It’s a large-scale for-profit business, not a small group home.
Go sit in the ER waiting room at Montgomery General tonight between 10pm and midnight and report back. The folks you see there are strikingly similar to who will be living at the project alongside the school.
Anonymous
03/22/2025 11:14
Subject: Re:For-profit Level 3.5 addiction/MH ctr next to mcps school
I have two kids who go to this school and am extremely disturbed by what I am hearing from parents arguing against this center. There is no evidence that people with substance abuse disorders in treatment are a danger to children in a school. This is not a facility for child predators. I know several people in drug treatment and they are human beings just like the rest of us. There is enough cruelty in our world and in the DMV in particular right now including toward people with mental illnesses and disabilities. The true colors of some in our community are really showing and it is sad.
Anonymous
03/22/2025 09:49
Subject: For-profit Level 3.5 addiction/MH ctr next to mcps school
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:This remains an issue.
And if this can happen in my neighborhood, then it can happen in your neighborhood.
Please email the County Exec and the county council (especially Luedtke) and tell them they must fix this.
I have a group home for young adults with autism in my neighborhood. Every bad worry you have about addicts could be extended to highly-impacted, low-functioning individuals on the spectrum.
Yet they walk around in our neighborhood all the time, and love to pet my dog. It's totally fine. Try to see people as humans.
There is a huge, material difference between an intelectual disability like severe autism, and people with severe comorbid mental health and addiction. There’s also a huge difference between group homes for adults who cannot live independently; and short term residential facilities that churn cohorts of seriously unstable people every day for profit.
Anonymous
03/22/2025 09:44
Subject: For-profit Level 3.5 addiction/MH ctr next to mcps school
I’m a super YIMBY but I also know that these businesses are being bought out by private equity which does not GAF about anything other than profits. Group homes for developmentally disabled adults are one thing, but for seriously mentally ill or drug addicted, another. There should definitely be rules on how many can be in a certain area and how close to schools.
Anonymous
03/22/2025 09:40
Subject: For-profit Level 3.5 addiction/MH ctr next to mcps school
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:This remains an issue.
And if this can happen in my neighborhood, then it can happen in your neighborhood.
Please email the County Exec and the county council (especially Luedtke) and tell them they must fix this.
I have a group home for young adults with autism in my neighborhood. Every bad worry you have about addicts could be extended to highly-impacted, low-functioning individuals on the spectrum.
Yet they walk around in our neighborhood all the time, and love to pet my dog. It's totally fine. Try to see people as humans.
Oy vey.
Nobody is kvetching about a small group home for a few people with autism. Or even a few formerly homeless people.
We are talking about a massive for-profit facility for upwards of 16+ patients needing a level 3.5 system of care (out of 4). It’s for people with severe impulse control issues and mental health issues. The addiction piece is likely just (the lesser) comorbidity.
We need such facilities, but they should not be plopped into a SFH adjacent to an elementary school.
Duh.
Anonymous
03/22/2025 08:45
Subject: For-profit Level 3.5 addiction/MH ctr next to mcps school
Anonymous wrote:This remains an issue.
And if this can happen in my neighborhood, then it can happen in your neighborhood.
Please email the County Exec and the county council (especially Luedtke) and tell them they must fix this.
I have a group home for young adults with autism in my neighborhood. Every bad worry you have about addicts could be extended to highly-impacted, low-functioning individuals on the spectrum.
Yet they walk around in our neighborhood all the time, and love to pet my dog. It's totally fine. Try to see people as humans.