There was a lot of discussion about a proposed new substance abuse recovery center at the Gainesville Planning and Appeals Board meeting Tuesday, but no decision was reached due to a "curve ball" before the venue was voted on.
Board Chairman Doug Carter said he was told right after the public comments that board member Eddie Martin, Sr. had a "conflict of interest" and was recusing himself from the vote. With board member Carmen Delgado absent from the meeting, this left the board with too few votes to come to a decision. The three remaining eligible voters, Carter, Jane Fleming and Connie Rucker voted to table the proposal until the board's September 13 meeting.
The project, which was proposed by Synergy Recovery Center, would be built on Cleveland Street and would house up to 36 men battling substance abuse. Krista Crowe, who would be the director and property manager of the center, said the facility would use constant monitoring and random drug tests to rehabilitate their residents.
"We will be taking in men from the drug courts' probation," Crowe said. "Not only will they have probation and drug courts watching over them, they will have us daily. I will be there every single day, there will be somebody there at night."
Crowe added that the center would not take any violent criminals or sex offenders into the program, and that the residents would be required to engage in job searches.
"We want to bring them into the community to help rebuild the community, make it a better place to be." Crowe said.
Several residents of Cleveland Street expressed concerns about the facility's impact on the area. Most of the concerns were about having men with a history of drug abuse being on a street where many families are raising children. Crowe said she believes the structure of the program will keep the residents from being a problem.
"They will have a lot of structure, a lot of oversight," Crowe said. "They're not just addicts out there, these are men that have things that are holding them there, and what they have to return to is a lot worse."
Carter apologized for the decision's delay, but said he respected Martin coming forward about his conflict.
"It's a good part of this process because all of us know plenty of people in the community," Carter said. "Obviously in Mr. Martin's mind he heard something, made some sort of connection with the presentations that he could not vote on this with a clear conscience and I admire him for coming forward and sharing that."
The center will need approval from the board as well as the city council before it can be built.
New apartment building on Cleveland Street
The board did unanimously vote to approve a rezoning request to allow for the construction of a new apartment building also on Cleveland Street at the corner of Myrtle Street.
The two-unit building would sit on the site of a currently abandoned house and the developers, Cobb Investments, LP, are calling it an extension of the apartment housings that already make up much of the street.
The building was approved under several conditions, mainly that the complex be built in a style that will be architecturally consistent and that it stay well-maintained.
