BZA to hear request to turn Ivy Trace into drug, alcohol treatment center Aug. 7
A request for a special exception to convert the former Ivy Trace assisted living facility at 815 Tacoma Drive into a drug and alcohol treatment facility will get Greencastle Board of Zoning Appeals attention at its August meeting.
The Indiana Center for Recovery, based in Bloomington, is seeking a special exception to develop an "in-patient medical detox facility" and on-site medical drug technology laboratory, City Planner Scott Zimmerman said in digesting the application for the Banner Graphic.
The proposed facility -- to be located literally down the street from Tzouanakis Intermediate School along Tacoma Drive on Greencastle's northeast side -- would hold a maximum of 26 short-term residential patients who suffer from substance use disorder, according to the zoning petition.
The average patient stay would range 7-21 days. No out-patient treatment is planned, and no visitors will be allowed.
"The patient would be the only person," Zimmerman explained.
"Basically it would a residential use of the structure," he added. "People would be staying there, just not going in and out."
Plans are to employ 20-25 qualified health care professionals.
Indiana Center for Recovery (ICFR) plans to rehabilitate the interior of the structure, modifying residential rooms into office space. Little modification is expected to the exterior of the facility, also previously known as Greencastle Nursing Home.
ICFR's use of the property, the petition notes, "will not substantially deviate from the property's current use as an assisted living facility."
To help local residents learn about its goal of serving as "a long-term asset to the community," ICFR invites the public to an open forum set for 6 p.m. Wednesday, Aug. 1 at City Hall, 1 N. Locust St., Greencastle. The gathering will not be a public hearing on the request nor a formal city meeting, and no decision or other action will be entertained.
When the BZA does consider the request at its Tuesday, Aug. 7 meeting, set for 6 p.m. at City Hall, the petitioners will need to convince Zoning Board members Brian Cox, Wayne Lewis, Andrew Ranck, Margaret Kenton and Mark Hammer that granting a special exception, among other things, would not be injurious to the public health, safety, morals and general welfare of the community. Likewise, the BZA must find the special exception would not be detrimental to other property or uses in the same zoning district and vicinity.
As a special exception in a residential zoning district, the proposed drug and alcohol treatment center could be considered a like use to a mental heath care facility. However, it is interesting to note that had the chosen location been within a commercial district, it would have been approved as a permitted use.