Mental Health Facility Saga Continues in Decatur Heights
December 10, 2009 | 9:44 amMany Decatur Heights residents still want the Peer Support and Wellness Center on Sycamore Road to eliminate its drop-in program for mental health patients, but so far the city has determined the Center hasn’t broken any zoning laws. From the AJC…
This week, the network submitted files confirming the state had authorized the facility and explaining why the drop-in component is critical to the mission, said City Manager Peggy Merriss.
She has not yet reviewed the documents but will make recommendations for city action once a review is complete.
“We will review it and proceed from there,” Merriss said.
There is no timetable for when the city will issue its next report. No meetings, including neighborhood sessions, have been planned.
Tip of the ol’ fedora to Nellie for pointing out this new article.
Actually, the article is confusing. Some parts suggest that the Center hasn’t broken zoning laws but there’s also “But the city also asked the network for documentation showing that its services were for residents of the center, which can handle up to 25 people at a time, and not for the dozen daily drop-in clients. City zoning does not allow for walk-in services in any residential area, according to a city report.”
You mean just like everything else in the new & improved AJC?
And the first line of the article reads like a features piece on the groundbreaking work of this home, not actual metro page reporting.
Happily, though, the link actually works, unlike every other link online at the AJC I needed this week!!
I think it’s overly generous to say that the city “has determined the Center hasn’t broken any zoning laws.” On November 2nd, Peggy Merris issued a report to the city which found that the walk-in services, as described in the Peer Review contract, do not appear to be allowed in any residential zoning district. The report stated that the Peer Review Center would have until November 25th to show that there are no walk-in services or that it would have until December 31st to modify the program to eliminate walk-in services.
Dave’s InDecatur blog has a link to this report on 11/5/09.