The Snyderville Basin Planning Commission didn’t vote on the proposed Wasatch Crest treatment facility in the Highland Estates neighborhood Tuesday night. County staff wants to be sure it’s up to code.
Summit County Development Director Pat Putt said the county needs to look into a specific piece of code that states (10-8-6 B5) that no residential treatment facility should be within three-fourths of a mile from certain other types of treatment homes.
“I think we’re going to need to do some additional research and go back and review specifically some other group home facilities and what they constitute, to see if they meet these definitions," Putt said. "Which would affect compliance with this section or not.”
The ROOTs Transition treatment facility, which serves adolescent girls, is at 150 Highland Drive. That’s less than half a mile from the proposed Wasatch Crest home.
The ROOTs facility’s location could disqualify the Wasatch Crest application. Outside of that, the application adheres to all relevant code, according to a staff report.
Public input at the meeting Tuesday night was strongly against the home, which would house a maximum of 28 patients. Many said that’s simply too many people for the neighborhood. The former tenant, BeeHives Homes senior living treatment center, had at most 16 patients at a time.
According to what Wasatch Crest submitted to the county, the new home would include more space, larger beds and more bathrooms for patients than required by state law.
That didn’t sway opponents.
Ben Rifkin lives on View Drive just off of Highland Drive and close to where Wasatch Crest would be.
“When the original CUP (conditional use permit) for BeeHive was granted, this type of use, this type of high impact traffic, this type of high impact person, was not considered," Rifkin said.
"This council — different people — approved more permanent residency. These are people that had mailboxes, who were our neighbors. And these new residents will not be our neighbors. They’ll be short-term, transient, and really unpredictable.”
Half of Wasatch Crest patients would be detoxifying from substance addiction and would stay no longer than a week. The other half would be enrolled in a longer group addiction recovery program which could last several months.
Wasatch Crest Founder and CEO Jim Huffman confirmed that care for detox patients is transitional in nature.
“Once clients are stabilized, after that initial few days and they’re just feeling physically better and able to engage in a treatment experience, we would transfer those clients to our facility in Heber, which is our residential treatment facility,” Huffman said.
Asked if Wasatch Crest would be required to admit court-ordered patients, Huffman and his lawyer emphasized that they would have total control over who is admitted.
Aaron Newman is director of behavioral health for Summit County. The planning commission asked him to weigh in with the goal of getting an objective expert view on the proposal.
“From a purely clinical point of view, they check all the boxes," Newman said. "So when we look at the facility in terms of the level of care and type of care being provided, it meets the best standards in terms of the spacing, the staffing.”
Newman compared the Wasatch Crest center to the Summit County Clubhouse, and said this type of treatment is needed locally.
The application will return to the commission at its next meeting on October 25.
