Just Say "NO" to Drug Rehab Center in Chester

     Did you know that Summit Behavioral Health, LLC is trying to open a revolving-door drug and alcohol rehab center right here in Chester, in a residential neighborhood within walking distance of Main Street? We teach our kids in school to “Just Say NO to Drugs” and to stay away from troubled adults in the drug world. Our Planning Board and elected officials adopted a Master Plan and Zoning Ordinance which do NOT allow transient rehab centers in our residential neighborhoods. 
     This company wants to ignore our Master Plan and Zoning Ordinance. Their management plans to introduce a stream of transient, troubled adults (18 and older) into our town, including graduates of the company’s own detoxification centers. Their clients will typically stay for just four weeks at a time, then be replaced by new or returning clients. Management will NOT commit to provide security to keep patients on the premises. Management will NOT commit to perform background checks to identify and screen patients with criminal histories. 
     We can look forward to experiences like those reported in a September 13, 2013 New York Times article titled, “An Intervention for Malibu”. Malibu, California (population: 12,645) now has 35 state-licensed drug and alcohol rehab facilities – and it started with just one. The article describes the frightening impacts of these transient adult rehab centers on the community, including: 
  • A rehab resident who set fire to a structure and threatened to ignite a neighborhood before being 
apprehended by sheriff’s deputies, 
  • A knife-wielding employee (and former patient) of another treatment center who held up a pharmacy, 
  • A girl’s father finding a naked adult man walking in his front yard in broad daylight, 
  • Mega-facilities that buy up several adjoining properties to create treatment center compounds, creating 
hospital zones in residential neighborhoods, and 
  • The proliferation of unlicensed group homes for “graduates” of these treatment centers in residential 
neighborhoods. 
     Do these troubled adults deserve care? Yes, of course. A residential neighborhood, however, is not the right location for such a potentially dangerous and non-permitted use. If you care about the future of our town, and the safety of your families, come to #1 Parker Road, Chester to the Zoning Board meeting room in the Municipal Building on the first floor. The meeting begins at 7:30 on Monday, October 28th. Bring your neighbors and friends. To get involved, email us at: nochesterrehabs@gmail.com 
Paid for by the Concerned Citizens of Chester