Yorktown ZBA Agrees Sober Home is Convalescent Facility

The Yorktown Zoning Board of Appeals has backed the town’s building inspector. On July 24 ZBA members ruled that a proposed residence for recovering alcoholics is a convalescent home.

The “sober home” proposed for 482 Underhill Avenue is opposed by some neighbors who worry about property values, community safety and the unregulated nature of such facilities. Opponent Al French told The Examiner after the ZBA meeting that he hoped the Town Board would listen to the neighbors more carefully than the ZBA had.

Compass Westchester seeks a 3-year special-use permit for a group residence of up to 14 people plus staff. On their website they say:

Residences of this type first started to appear on the West Coast of the United States in the 1990′s and have since spread to virtually every area of the country in response to dramatic increases in rates of substance abuse among population groups previously thought to be immune to this problem; namely, employed, middle-class adults who hold responsible jobs and work hard to support their families. Rather than return directly home upon completing an inpatient treatment program, many individuals benefit from residing temporarily in a nurturing and structured environment that helps to bridge the gap between completing treatment and returning home.

A 2010 study for the National Institutes of Health noted lasting positive effects of sober living homes.

The organizers insist 482 Underhill would not be a halfway house. “No one is accepted who has a criminal record, nor any history of violence, nor will there be sexual predators as our misguided prospective neighbors are suggesting to gain opposing support,” the organizers say on their website.

The permit application now goes to the Town Board.