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Dear Editor:
Pleasant Heights, East Liverpool. A quiet neighborhood. A friendly neighborhood. A safe neighborhood. A neighborhood that our children and grandchildren can still explore the outdoors, without families dwelling on "what ifs." An area where it's peaceful and quiet with all the sounds that any neighborhood should have -- children playing, dogs barking in the distance and people laughing. A neighborhood where neighbors still look out for one another. This is our Pleasant Heights.
Recently, I received a letter, as did many in the neighborhood, from the East Liverpool Planning Department notifying us that the old Pleasant Heights Public School building may be turned into a halfway house/residential drug and alcohol treatment center for women, if approved.
The definition of a halfway house is "a place where people who have recently left a prison, mental hospital, etc., still under the jurisdiction of the courts, can live until they are considered ready to live by themselves." A petitioner is requesting that the Board of Zoning Appeals approve a "special exception" to go forward to have this property be defined as "semipublic use." Their letter to the Planning Department also mentions using parts of the facility "for outpatient clients." In other words -- from what the other changes being proposed are -- sure does sound like a methadone clinic.
This halfway house/rehab/methadone clinic will be in the middle of Pleasant Heights, at a primary intersection in the neighborhood, and will be the first representation that young families wanting to move into our tranquil neighborhood will see.
From previously working at a correctional facility and listening to testimonies from returning inmates, I know that such places bring aggression with them no matter what deterrence are in place against said behaviors. Personally, I would fear for my family's safety, due to an increased possibility of residential burglaries, property thefts and undetected drug trafficking that will take place. Property values will decrease and transgressions will occur. This is a proven fact.
I do not condemn the petitioner's emotions to help others with such a facility. But I do question the intentions to put such a facility in a populated residential neighborhood, such as Pleasant Heights, or anywhere in East Liverpool.
I would encourage all of the residents of East Liverpool, to voice your opinion regarding this matter at the East Liverpool Board of Zoning Appeals public hearing on March 9, 2017, at 7 p.m.
East Liverpool is slowly changing for the better, let's keep it going! Please help keep our neighborhoods safe and pleasant.
George Allison
East Liverpool