Neighbors were anxious about Vancouver addiction treatment facility opening; a year later, there are no issues

A public land-use hearing on the proposed clinic in June 2023 stretched to nearly three hours. Neighbors and staff from local businesses complained the clinic could make the homeless problem in the area even worse and endanger their children or staff working late.

Staff from the nearby Holiday Inn, Wendel Family Dental Centre and Sonesta Hotel expressed their concerns to the city of Vancouver. None responded to The Columbian’s requests for comment on whether those concerns came to fruition.

An appeal to the city of Vancouver by Sonesta International Hotels Corp. halted the opening of the treatment center just three days after its ribbon-cutting ceremony in August 2023. The company owns a three-star hotel less than a quarter of a mile from the facility and had concerns the facility would increase problems related to homelessness and criminal activity, according to city documents.

Sonesta’s legal representation argued to the Vancouver City Council that the city ignored “substantial evidence” of NorthStar’s “significant impacts” to Sonesta, including police reports around crimes near Columbia River Mental Health Services’ other facility, and failed to impose conditions to adequately mitigate those impacts.

The city denied the appeal, and NorthStar clinic officially opened its doors in November.

Calls to 911 from the last two years show the level of police activity has slightly increased since the clinic’s opening, but not by much. Most calls, except for one related to a client experiencing breathing problems, were unrelated to the clinic.

Instead, calls regarding crime or drugs mostly resulted from the cul-de-sac behind the clinic where a group of homeless people have camped for years.

Over the year before the clinic opened, 911 callers reported a man stabbing himself in the stomach, an unwanted sex offender wandering and homeless people using a dumpster as a bathroom in the cul-de-sac.

Issues in the cul-de-sac remain, but Fischer said he’s not aware of any clients living in tents or vehicles around NorthStar.

“We’ve been fairly persistent with the city on some of the same concerns that our neighbors share because we want our patients that come for services to feel safe,” Fischer said, referring to the cul-de-sac.

Anna O’Keefe, owner of the nearby CCG House Games, said she’s also noticed an increase in homelessness and police activity around the clinic, but it’s hard to judge how much can be attributed to the clinic, she said.

When she first heard about the clinic opening, she was concerned about how it might affect her business, she said.

“We’re a family-friendly game store, so we were a little bit worried,” she said.

But, for the most part, her concerns have not come true, she said. None of her customers have complained, she said, and the clinic has “very active security.”

“They’ve been very responsive and on top of issues,” she said. “I’ve been pretty impressed that everyone has been working together so well to keep the neighborhood safe.”

The only other close neighbor that responded to The Columbian’s requests for inquiries was a banker at U.S. Bank Branch who didn’t have much to say.

“We haven’t had any issues really,” Jamie Aten said.

Graves said he tried to communicate with neighboring businesses frequently about activities at the clinic, but he hasn’t received a complaint from neighbors so far.

“It’s a testament to how well we deal with those issues on our property,” Graves said. “We made a commitment to be good neighbors, and I think we fulfilled that commitment.”