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Day Care Center and Domestic Violence Shelter unite with other neighbors to oppose proposed zoning change for recovery center
BOWLING Green, KY (May 3, 2012) – Several property and business owners on Old Louisville Road have retained the legal services of Broderick & Davenport, PLLC to represent their interests in opposition to a proposed zoning change at 1791 Old Louisville Road. Neighbors, including the Academy for Little People Day Care and The Barren River Area Safe Space, Inc. (BRASS) made the decision to oppose the April 19, 2012 7-4 vote of the City-County Planning Commission to accept the application for a 100 bed men’s recovery center at the site. According to the developers, a significant majority of the anticipated residents would be referrals from the Kentucky Court of Justice.
Several legal issues surfaced during the Planning & Zoning meeting that neighbors felt were overlooked by the zoning Commissioners, including the developer’s failure to provide adequate notice to neighbors, per the zoning staff’s report. An informal tally of neighbors demonstrates that most neighbors received no notification, while others’ notice was but three days. The developer made no efforts to receive neighbors’ feedback through a customary neighborhood meeting. These due process concerns are made greater by the fact that the planned development is not compatible with adjacent properties, per the zoning staff’s report.
“I am concerned for the safety of our children since we are in such close proximity to the proposed recovery center. The sidewalks are very narrow and I imagine that groups of men will cut across our parking lot when out walking,” reported Holly Fields, operator of the Academy for Little People Day Care. One part of the recovery program is called “trudging” where groups of 10-20 individuals walk everywhere. BRASS also has concerns about the potential breach of confidentiality and anonymity of the domestic violence shelter. “We have been in our current location for 22 years and it has been kept as confidential as possible. At this point we are prepared for more people to know our location and this could present difficulties for women who enter the shelter that are in a state of trauma. There is always a fear that a perpetrator could find the location and we have several incidents of that a year. 100 bed men’s facility in close proximity to a woman’s shelter is an unrealistic plan,” reported Lee Alcott, Executive Director of BRASS.
Those in opposition to the zone change do support recovery efforts. BRASS, Inc. won the 2011 state award for Women’s Substance Abuse Service from the University of Kentucky Coalition of Women’s Substance Abuse Services for the work they do in the shelter.
Neighbors on Old Louisville Road site several policies in non-compliance with the Comprehensive Plan as their reasoning for retaining legal counsel. Testimony in opposition provided at the hearing highlighted several factors, including lack of notification, vehicular and pedestrian traffic and non-compatibility with the existing neighborhood.
