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Eureka Council Affirms Permit for Rehab Facility · KMUD News

• 0:00
  Speaker A: A residential drug and alcohol use rehab facility planned for Eureka's Henderson center neighborhood has overcome a permit appeal and will focus on providing recovery services for women. Most of those who spoke during the eureka City Council's April 1 hearing on the permit appeal enthusiastically supported the project, saying it will provide much needed recovery services. Sited at 309 Harris St. On the corner of Harris and D streets, the facility will include a main residential house with two other buildings for an office and individual and group counseling areas. A conditional use permit for the project was approved by the city's planning commission last February, and the decision was appealed by a group of five appellants, who also gathered 75 signatures on a petition. The North Coast Substance Abuse Council plans a residential rehab center for up to 12 people, and Wesley Harrison, the nonprofit group's executive director, said there's acute need for recovery services for women, including pregnant women, and he said the aim is to improve quality of life.
• 1:13
  Speaker B: What we want to do is produce a sober community, a safer and a healthier community. That's our goal. What I will say to the community behind me is we all know that substance use is a problem. It's the one thing we can agree on here today, no matter which side you're sitting on today. And if we can agree that it's a problem, what I will say is this. I'm not asking you to donate money to our agency for us to do what we do. I'm not asking you to open your doors to the people we serve. I'm not asking you to do the work that is going to be needed to help this issue. But what I am asking is that you allow us to use our money that we have scrimped and saved over the last four years to do this project. I'm asking you that you let us open our doors to these people, and I'm asking that you let us do the work that we've been doing in this community for the last 50 years.
• 2:11
  Speaker A: There weren't many arguments against that during the hearing's public comment period. Several people, including other care service providers, said they're pleased women's services will be offered. A woman who said her work is in drug treatment emphasized the importance of.
• 2:28
  Speaker C: Recovery care right now. Well, pretty much since I've been working here for the last two years, if someone is in need of inpatient treatment, it is pretty much impossible to get them into an inpatient program within the time that they're willing to go to inpatient treatment. Because someone can change their mind so quickly. And right now, especially We've been sending people to Ukiah because there is nowhere here. And also that program that you talked about, New Life Recovery center, which is a fantastic program, in order to be eligible to go there, you need to have graduated from a treatment program of some kind or be actively engaged in treatment. So all of those amazing beds that we have that are available for people who are in need of housing, they don't qualify for it unless they've graduated from somewhere like Wes's program or are already enrolled in some sort of program, which there are not a lot of options here.
• 3:20
  Speaker A: The appeal argued that the main house is a historic structure that demands review under the California Environmental Quality act, and a rehab facility is incompatible with the neighborhood. Longtime Henderson center resident Thea Stewart, one of the appellants, questioned the facility's sighting, saying Henderson center has a large percentage of retired senior citizens and, of course, some families. I do not find this facility suitable. But staff told council members a historic building can be exempted from ceqa, and the project is consistent with the area's zoning and neighborhood commercial land use designation. Councilmember Katie Moulton related her experience with those who need help.
• 4:05
  Speaker D: This whole conversation has brought up how many people I have known in my life who have lost their battle with addiction, including some people who were waiting to get into a facility, and how common it is for people to end up overdosing in the last 48 hours before they get in. And when that spark happens and somebody says, I want to get my life right now, that's when you need to take advantage of that and give them that opportunity. Because any delay can cause people to. Caused that monkey, that demon, to get right back on top of them.
• 4:48
  Speaker A: The council's vote to support the planning commission permit approval and deny the appeal was unanimous. Harrison said the new facility won't offer detox services, and he described it as a facility to, quote, help individuals who have achieved sobriety and are in remission to help them maintain that sobriety in a supervised, structured setting. He expects the new facility to open in early 2027 in Eureka. For KMUD news, this is Daniel Min.