BRUSH PRAIRIE, Wash. (KOIN) — Janelle Webb lives along a street in Brush Prairie that runs in front of former church property that is for sale. It’s a quiet dead-end street that she said is not supposed to house a residential drug treatment program for kids between 12 and 18.
She’s upset the county approved an emergency zoning ordinance to help get this project underway. A total of $1.5 million in state money is set aside for this project.
The project from Daybreak Youth Services is planned to be a 40-bed facility that would be locked and gated, similar to their Vancouver facility. That one is just across the street from an elementary school and school district offices.
“Washington has a capacity crisis,” Daybreak Director Annette Klinefelter told KOIN 6 News. “We has significant waiting lists. For every day a kid waits with an addiction is a day they could possibly overdose and die.”
Asked if any of the youth that might stay at this facility would have criminal backgrounds, Klinefelter said it was possible. “One of the symptoms of addiction is theft.”
While some kids are sent to treatment by their families, others would be probation referred — but they’d be screened to assess their risk to the community.
“We’ve been in residential treatment in Spokane for 30 years, Vancouver for 16 years and have no incidents of violence in the communities we serve,” she said.
But some homeowner in the community of Brush Prairie — population 2000 — feel they have little say in the planned project.
A community meeting is set for Monday evening at the former church on NE 154th Street in Brush Prairie.
If Daybreak Youth Services gets the permits they need, remodeling would begin in Spring 2016, with teens getting help in about a year.
“The youth need rehab and resources and should have it,” Janelle Webb said. “But not on this street.”
Filed under: Civic Affairs, Clark County, Top Video
