The old Sandra Care Center building is located at 1215 S. Tower Ave.
Area residents packed the Centralia City Council chambers Tuesday night to register their objections to a proposed residential psychiatric facility, particularly expressing concern that potentially violent felons could be housed in a residential neighborhood a few blocks away from a school.
While the project came up in Tuesday’s meeting, the council has yet to formally discuss the special use permit application submitted by Noble Healthcare to operate the facility, which includes new information, such as a company policy not to house registered sex offenders or “individuals with a violent or endangering felony history.”
The City of Centralia Planning Department received the application on April 15, according to a stamp on the cover page. Noble Healthcare is seeking to remodel the old Sandra Care building at 1215 S. Tower Avenue into a 16-bed location for patients of state facilities such as Western State Hospital deemed stable enough to be discharged to a supervised residential setting.
Washington state law dictates a person must meet at least two of seven qualifications to be eligible for admittance to what is officially known as an Enhanced Services Facility. A history of felony offenses against a person or that created substantial property damage is one of those qualifiers. Others include self-endangering behaviors, aggressive, threatening or assaultive behaviors, complex medication needs and a history of mental health hospitalizations.
Dozens of community members have voiced their concerns about locating such a facility close to a school and within a residential area. Residents have raised issues such as safety and security in emails and letters to city staff as well as during Tuesday’s public hearing on an interim zoning ordinance adopted last month by the city council adding a section on ESFs to city code.
“My husband Luke and I have three children currently attending the Centralia Christian School,” wrote Centralia resident Anna Moerke in an email to Centralia Community Development Director Emil Pierson. “We are extremely unhappy and very opposed to this idea! We beg you to consider what a facility like this could mean not just for our small private school, literally a few hundred feet away from the proposed site, but (Jefferson-Lincoln Elementary School) around the corner as well.”
Per the application packet, Noble Healthcare hopes to demolish and begin rebuilding about half of the existing structure later this year in hopes of beginning operations in the spring of 2020. The application states an intent to install wrought iron fencing 6-feet tall around the property. Residents would be able to enter and leave the facility by unlocking gates with an electronic key.
“We believe that one of the best things we can do for our residents is to provide them with a variety of activities,” the application states. “These include regular (daily) outings in the facility van for shopping, sightseeing, meals out, etc. … We do not lock them in the facility. If their individual needs allow, they may enter and exit the facility at will. If their needs dictate, then we would support them with that by sending staff to accompany them outside the building.”
The application states a minimum of four staff members, including at least one licensed nurse, would be on-site 24 hours a day. As many as six workers would be on duty during normal business hours, with a mental health professional there at least eight hours per day.
Assurances of adequate staffing levels and other safeguards within the application did little to assuage Centralia City Council member Peter Abbarno. When informed of some of the language in the document, Abbarno, who had not yet reviewed the application materials, said he still had significant concerns about locating potentially dangerous individuals next to or near a school; just because company policy is not to admit violent felons, Abbarno said, doesn’t mean they would be prohibited from doing so in the future.
“I’m always going to have those concerns for the community, and those need to be addressed not only by the city and a hearings examiner, but also by Noble Healthcare,” Abbarno said. “…If they’re going to be knocking down portions of that building, why don’t they select a better location that’s not close to a school? It’s got to be more expensive to knock down and rebuild part of a building than to build a new one.”
Noble Healthcare is required to seek a special use permit from the city because the location is zoned for moderate-density residential use. Permitted use of land given that designation includes examples such as single-family units, duplexes and townhouse developments
Centralia Municipal Code allows for special use of such a parcel of land subject to review by city staff and a public hearing in front of a Hearings Examiner with the power to approve or deny the application. That hearing is scheduled for 6 p.m. on June 12 at Centralia City Hall.
Centralia City Council member Rebecca Staebler, whose district includes the proposed ESF location, said she’s heard from a number of constituents wondering if the location would have a negative impact on those living in the facility due to the level of hostility being directed at the proposal.
“I think with anything like this, people are going to dig in and ask some tough questions,” Staebler said. “I don’t think anyone would take anything something said at face value and think that was good enough. They’ll ask tough questions and look for good answers, ask what the case has been in other communities where there are similar facilities. I’m sure all of that will be looked at pretty intensely.”
