CAMAS — Prune Hill residents fervently opposed to having a residential drug treatment center move in next to Camas’ Dorothy Fox Elementary School are taking their fight to court.
Brian Lewellan, the Camas attorney representing the Dorothy Fox Safety Alliance, said the group will take its case to Clark County Superior Court in a bid to stop the owners of Discover Recovery from opening an inpatient recovery center on a 2.39-acre property known as Fairgate Estate that has been used as a bed and breakfast, wedding venue and, most recently, an assisted living center.
“We are filing a land-use petition act (case) … and trying to fight the hearings examiner’s decision,” Lewellan told The Post-Record on June 7.
Dorothy Fox Safety Alliance members say they fear the 15-bed drug rehabilitation facility — which is geared toward working professionals seeking help for substance abuse disorders — would harm their neighborhood, endanger their children and lower their property values.
Prune Hill residents formed the safety alliance group in February, a few weeks after the owners of Discover Recovery filed an official application for a conditional-use permit at the Fairgate Estate property.
The group’s anonymous founders built a website; insinuated online that future Discover Recovery patients seeking help for drug or alcohol addictions might kidnap, rape or kill children at the nearby Dorothy Fox Elementary School; circulated a petition opposing the drug rehabilitation center; formed a limited liability corporation; collected more than $5,000 via GoFundMe; and placed “No Drug Rehab Next to Dorothy Fox” signs throughout the city.
Discover Recovery, a company that has operated a 40-bed inpatient drug treatment and rehabilitation center in Long Beach since 2018, applied for the conditional-use permit on Jan. 21.
On March 24, Camas Hearings Examiner Joe Turner held a public hearing to consider the treatment center’s application for a conditional-use permit, and opponents argued the proposed use would be “materially detrimental to the public welfare.”
The Dorothy Fox Safety Alliance members voiced concerns that Discover Recovery patients might leave the facility without medical advice and interact with children in the neighborhood.
On April 28, Turner ruled the facility does comply with city code and should be granted a conditional-use permit. The hearings examiner also set a few additional rules in his decision, including 24-hour surveillance of all patients; routine bed checks at 30-minute intervals; criminal background checks on all patients; a 6-foot solid fence around the property; no admittance for sex offenders or any patient who has been convicted of a violent crime or been court-mandated to seek treatment for their substance-abuse disorder; annual meetings with city, school and neighborhood representatives; and reporting to the Camas Police Department if a patient leaves against medical advice.
The extra requirements did not sway the Dorothy Fox Safety Alliance opponents.
In May, the group filed a request for reconsideration and proposed even more conditions it would like to see connected to the conditional-use permit, including a requirement that Discover Recovery have a security guard posted at the facility at all times and more frequent meetings with city and neighborhood representatives.
Turner denied the group’s petition for reconsideration on May 24.
