Armonk Residents Fight Treatment Center for Rich Teens

Editor's Note — The purpose of the proposed Paradigm treatment center in Armonk was incorrect in the original version of this article. Patch regrets the error.

ARMONK, NY – The North Castle Town Board will vote Wednesday on a proposal from Paradigm Treatment Centers LLC of California to operate a treatment facility for teenagers in an eight-bedroom mansion in a residential area of Armonk.

Opponents have organized to fight the company, which they allege wants a drug rehab center and say is misusing a state law meant to protect group homes for disabled people.

The Davis Pond Conservancy has gathered more than 1,000 signatures on a petition. Its members ask all Armonk residents to attend Wednesday’s North Castle Town Board meeting and urge the Board to reject the plan.

Once that is done, the issue would move to the state level, where opposition to Paradigm and the need to amend the Padavan Law will continue, they said.

Paradigm is a high-end adolescent treatment company that offers luxurious treatment and amenities and lush surroundings, according to The Fix, a website for addiction and treatment.

Paradigm is seeking to use a mansion on Cole Drive as a for-profit medical facility for the temporary treatment of teens suffering from mental health issues.

By calling it a drug rehab center, opponents are mischaracterizing its purpose, company representatives said. (The company's full statement is below). Paradigm applied to the State Office of Mental Health for a license to treat problems such as depression and anxiety. If it were planning to treat teens for chemical dependency issues, it would have to apply to the Office of Alcoholism and Substance Abuse Services.

Company representatives said under NYS law, all proposed residences of 14 beds or less in size which are being considered for licensure by OMH must follow the site selection procedures under the Padavan Law (Mental Hygiene Law section 41.34). The opponents say this is a misuse of the law.

Under the statute, the host municipality – in this case, the Town of North Castle -- has up to 40 days to support or object to a proposed facility. The Town Board will make a determination on the issue at its Jan. 25 meeting. If it objects, a hearing is scheduled before the state mental health commissioner who has 15 days to approve or deny the application. There are limited justifications for an objection, primarily an over-concentration of these types of residences in the area.

The opponents have a list of reasons why Paradigm's plan should be rejected.

1. They allege the house would be used as a drug and alcohol treatment facility. That, they said does not fit the requirements of the Padavan Law, which they argue is designed to provide long-term housing for people with permanent mental disabilities. The law does not apply to drug and alcohol treatment limited-stay facilities, they said, arguing that allowing short-term treatment centers for substance abuse and related problems in residential neighborhoods and allowing such a use sets a dangerous precedent that could affect residential neighborhoods across Westchester and the State. In fact, they are urging the State Legislature to add specific language to emphasize that such uses are not permitted, organizers said.

This is not a NIMBY issue, they said: There are already several long-term residences for the mentally disabled in the area.

2. Paradigm has not been honest or forthcoming in its dealings with the Town of North Castle or the neighbors, they allege, complaining that:

• Paradigm signed a lease for 14-16 Cole Drive on Aug. 28, 2016, but delayed notifying the town until just before Thanksgiving.
• Paradigm repeatedly failed to provide a complete list of “community residential facilities” as required by the Padavan Law.
• Paradigm has provided little information regarding the nature of its operations or the impact of its commercial use on the surrounding, highly sensitive environment bordering Davis Pond and protected wetlands.
• Paradigm has failed to provide information about its plans for parking, daily staffing, ADA compliance, and part-time contractors or staff.
• Paradigm continues to falsely describe the proposed medical treatment facility at 14-16 Cole Drive as a “community residential facility for the mentally disabled.”

3. Paradigm’s proposed facility will put an undue strain on the neighborhood, they allege:

• The property already has sensitive water and sewer systems. The mansion at 14-16 Cole Drive has an inadequate septic system and is prone to overflowing which could pose contamination issues for Davis Pond. In addition, the mansion has inadequate well capacity for such a use.
• There is currently no security system at the house – only a deer fence -- leading to concerns about patients who may be able to leave the facility and wander around the neighborhood. There are also fears that drug dealers may be attracted to the facility. More than 60 children live in the neighborhood, with a school bus stop within 15 feet of the property. Coman Hill School is within 1.6 miles of the proposed facility.
• The neighborhood is served by narrow winding roads with blind curves that are not adequate to handle the traffic a treatment facility would generate. There will be a significant increase in traffic, with up to 30 staff covering three 24-hour shifts and parents and family members visiting on the weekends.
• A drug and alcohol treatment facility would also strain local ambulance, fire and police services. In addition, there are no fire hydrants in the neighborhood.

The plan's foes are also angry at the property owner, a top insurance executive, and they have gathered information about his local real-estate dealings.

According to the group, the vacant 15,215-square- foot house is owned by Ted Mathas, CEO of New York Life Insurance, who purchased the three-story mansion at 14 Cole Drive in 2004 for $3.6 million. In 2012, Mathas also acquired the adjacent property at 16 Cole Drive for $1.16 million and combined the two properties, they said.

In the fall of 2015, Mathas put the 11-acre property on the market for about $6 million, they said. The property did not sell and Mathas leased it to Paradigm in August 2016 for $25,000 a month, with an option to buy the property for $5.65 million after two years. In the meantime, Mathas moved to a $10 million, 36-room mansion in Tarrytown, in a new gated community known as Greystone-on-Hudson, they said.

The group says the house at 14 Cole Drive, which was built in 1905, has historic significance as the longtime residence of swashbuckling journalist and fiction writer Richard Harding Davis, whose jingoistic dispatches are often credited with inciting the Spanish-American War.

Here is Paradigm's full statement:

It is important to understand that our proposed project is a treatment center for adolescents who suffer from mental health issues such as depression and anxiety – not addictions.

We are not opening a drug treatment facility.

This can easily be confirmed by the fact that we have applied to the State Office of Mental Health for a license. If our objective were to treat teens for chemical dependency issues, we would be applying with a different state agency that provides licenses for drug treatment programs.

Any suggestion to the contrary is simply wrong.

Second, it is important to state that we have spent a great deal of time and energy talking with local medical experts, regulators, school officials, psychiatrists, and neighbors about our project.We also participated in an hours -long Town Board meeting where parents of teens were prepared to share their experiences receiving mental health treatment at Paradigm.

This was most fitting, as local families were the genesis of this project.

For a number of years, families from places like Scarsdale, Chappaqua, and Rye have traveled with their kids to our California facilities for mental health treatment. These families repeatedly asked us "why isn't there a place like this closer to home? Why do we have to go so far away?"

Many Westchester students are gifted, talented, high achieving youth, who are also dealing with complex family dynamics, depression, anxiety and other emotional health issues for which they need and deserve support.

Finally, it should be noted that the opposition to this project has raised concerns, such as traffic and septic, that are unrelated to the issues that the Town Board will be voting on. Nonetheless, as an act of good faith, and in an effort to be a good neighbor, we have hired experts to conduct independent studies related to each concern raised and have submitted those reports.

Our past and current projects speak for themselves. Our programs are good for parents, communities, schools and, most importantly, the young people who we serve.

Under NYS law, residential treatment programs serving persons with mental illness must be licensed by the NYS Office of Mental Health (OMH). Programs serving persons with substance use disorders are required to be licensed by an entirely different agency, the Office of Alcoholism and Substance Abuse Services (OASAS).

Paradigm is proposing to establish a program serving adolescents with mental health needs, and accordingly it has submitted an application to OMH, and not to OASAS. That application was submitted to OMH on January 23rd. Further, all proposed residences of 14 beds or less in size, which are being considered for licensure by OMH, must follow the site selection procedures under the Padavan Law (Mental Hygiene Law section 41.34). That is precisely the process which being followed by Paradigm.

PHOTO/ realtor.com