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Neighbors Oppose Mental Health, Drug Rehab Facility

Hernando Today photo by BOB EAST III

Amanda Goodell, left, and Carol Pulice look over photos and documents regarding plans to build a mental health and drug addiction treatment center in their neighborhood. Goodell said they're not "against people getting help. This is just a horrible location.”

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By TONY MARRERO

Hernando Today

Published: December 6, 2008

BROOKSVILLE - Amanda Goodell couldn't emphasize the sentiment enough on Friday.

In an interview in front of her home on Oakado Street, Goodell said she and her neighbors are glad there are places for people to get treatment for mental health conditions and drug addiction.

But plopping a residential treatment facility for men within yards of their neighborhood full of young children is not the place, they say.

"We're not mean people; we're just parents," she said. "Our concerns are concerns I think anyone would have. We aren't against people getting help. This is just a horrible location."

Goodell and her neighbors plan to show up in force at the planning and zoning commission's meeting Monday to oppose a zoning request to allow Westbridge Community Services to build a campus on 10.5 acres on the northeast corner of Grove Road and Oakado.

Westbridge Florida Properties LLC seeks a special exception use permit for the property, currently zoned for commercial and multifamily residential use.

The campus would include a two-story residential building with a maximum of 24 beds, according to the application form. The plan also calls for a pond, pool, tennis court and gazebo.

Westbridge is a private, nonprofit organization based in Manchester, N.H., that offers treatment in "a safe, homelike environment" for patients suffering from both mental illness and drug addiction, or so-called dual disorders, according to its Web site, www.westbridge.org.

Among the disorders treated include depression, anxiety and post traumatic stress.

That's a scary prospect for Goodell and her husband Erick. The couple share a property line with the site and their two young children would play within yards of the facility. So, too, would a dozen other children in the neighborhood, Amanda Goodell said.

They worry about patients with a history of unpredictable or even dangerous behavior living so close. Amanda Goodell has spent time scouring the Westbridge Web site and pointed out a section that notes patients naturally face "setbacks" during treatment.

"That's when we start worrying about our children," Goodell said. "Those setbacks are going to occur in our neighborhood."

Carol Pulice and her husband Larry have lived on Oakado for 19 years.

Pulice pointed out there are already two facilities that provide similar services in the area: Springbrook Hospital and The Harbor, both on Grove Road.

Pulice, 61, said she's seen patients in the neighborhood. That on its face is not necessarily a problem, she said.

But she worries that an unstable Westbridge patient in the midst of a relapse "would do whatever it takes to get drugs."

The concerns are understandable, but unfounded, said Jonathan Routhier, chief operating officer for Westbridge.

Westbridge calls its patients "participants" because they're seeking treatment on a voluntary basis, Routhier said.

"They're participating in something of their choosing," Routhier said. "They're more concerned about their privacy than having a place to walk around."

Patients go through a screening process to ensure they have some level of mental stability, he said.

"Certainly people who meet the profile of being dangerous to themselves or others are not people who are ready to be participants in an active treatment program," Routhier said.

The organization has a similar facility for men in Manchester that has had "zero problems" with neighbors, Routhier said.

The site plan includes a 50-foot natural buffer, but Routhier said Westbridge is considering a fence to help put neighbors more at ease.

Florida's east coast has plenty of residential treatment programs, but there are few on this side of the state, Routhier said.

There's a reason Brooksville came to mind. Al West, who founded Westbridge with his wife Loralee, was born here. They now live in Pennsylvania.

The couple formed the organization after learning "through a family experience" of the lack of treatment options for patients with dual disorders, according to a statement from the Wests on the Westbridge Web site.

The planning and zoning board meets at 9 a.m. Monday in the county commissioner chambers of the County Government Center.

Reporter Tony Marrero can be reached at 352-544-5286 or lmarrero@hernandotoday.com.

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