And even though I thought I'd done a pretty good job refuting the claim that 900 Vine Street would be used as a meeting place for Narcotics Anonymous and Alcoholics Anonymous meetings, you'll never guess what factoid the Manistee News Advocate chose as the lead for its story.
Well, you don't have to guess.
The story said (and I quote) "Best Drug Rehabilitation of Manistee will soon have a new location to hold Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) and Narcotics Anonymous (NA) meetings."
What crap!
As Nazi monster Joseph Goebbels is reported to have said, tell a lie a hundred times, and it becomes the truth.
Here's the article:
Planning commission OKs special use permit
Posted by Sean Bradley on January 8th, 2016
Best Drug to use St. Joseph Civic Club building for meetings
Thomas
King (far left) is the attorney for Best Drug Rehabilitation of
Manistee. He spoke on Thursday to the City of Manistee Planning
Commission at Manistee City Hall during a public hearing about Best
Drug’s request for a special use permit to use the St. Joseph Civic Club
for Narcotics Anonymous and Alcoholics Anonymous meetings. The
commission granted the request after the hearing. (Sean Bradley/News
Advocate)
MANISTEE
— Best Drug Rehabilitation of Manistee will soon have a new location to
hold Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) and Narcotics Anonymous (NA) meetings.
The
organization, and property owner TIA Corporation, requested a special
use permit from the City of Manistee Planning Commission during its
meeting Thursday to use the St. Joseph Civic Club at 900 Vine St. as a
location for recovery meetings.
A
public hearing with the commission and residents was held Thursday, and
after a discussion, the permit was granted by a vote of 5-0.
Already
with an existing location at 300 Care Center Drive, the organization
requested the use of the building to be able to continue, and expand,
its services, said Roy King, senior director of administration at Best
Drug Rehabilitation.
“We’re
looking into having those meetings; we do have them in-house right now
and we’re looking to open them to the public,” King said. “We’re going
to be using it for different classes. More life skills type stuff.”
He said a date for use of the facility for meetings has not been set.
Thomas
King, attorney for Best Drug Rehabilitation, said the request is
primarily for public assembly, also including intensive outpatient (IOP)
meetings. The mixed use defined in the request includes a
medical/dental office and an eating and drinking establishment.
He
said there are three group meeting rooms in the building, and the
kitchen needed to be requested under the “eating and drinking
establishment” portion of the request rules.
“Although,
we don’t intend on serving any food to the outside public; it’s just
desserts and small foods and beverages to those people attending the
group meetings that are going to occur,” Thomas said. “We are using the
existing building. We are not proposing to make any additions or
exterior modifications to the building itself.”
A
condition for the issuance of the special use permit is for the parking
lot at the St. Joseph Civic Center to be paved, which is to be
completed by May 31. (Sean Bradley/News Advocate)
However,
he said, the parking area and landscaping will be enhanced. Up to 49
parking spaces will be provided and the lot will be paved, among other
things. A condition of the permit is that the lot be paved by May 31.
Some
conditions of the permit include that in consideration for connection
to the storm sewer along Ninth Street, the applicant may remove
underground storage infiltration systems shown on the original site plan
in exchange for removing the parallel parking along the street.
Parking
lot entrances onto Ninth Street are to be constructed to commercial
driveway standards and the applicant will submit an updated site plan to
the city director of public works Jeff Mikula and/or city engineer
Shawn Middleton, who must approve the changes before the issuance of the
permit.
Although
the request indicated the meeting space would not have any impact on
schools in the area — CASMAN Alternative Academy is about two blocks
away from the club — some concerns were brought up by residents.
Eric
Gustad, who serves on the Manistee City Council, said there is a bus
pickup directly in front of the building for children going to and from
school.
He
gave the suggestion for the business owners to contact the school and
to look into an alternate spot for the bus to pick up children.
“It’s
important for us to not only look at zoning and planning but, as a
group, we need to consider the safety of our children and the location
of that,” Gustad said.
In response to questions about security, Thomas said more than one security guard would be used and monitoring the facility.
Alan
Marshall, who owns property just south of the center, brought up
concerns about fencing and a dumpster. Thomas said he would work with
Marshall on these issues.
Resident Tom Thompson, who spoke during the hearing, said he lives about one block away from the location.
“I
get the feeling this NA and AA group is kind of a false promise because
both of those organizations are unaffiliated with any private or public
organization. They don’t oppose or condone any cause,” Thompson said.
He said he doesn’t see the need for the use of the building.
“There’s two NA groups in Manistee and I believe there’s about eight AA meetings every week,” Thompson said.
He believes the patients are also going through a detoxification program, which Thomas said was not true.
“There
is nobody through detox that’s going to be at this facility,” he said.
“The detox occurs before even the treatment that occurs at the other
site. This is only people who have gone through virtually all of that
treatment and/or completed all of that treatment.”
The
planned hours of the facility would be 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. with occasional
evening NA and AA meetings, the report indicated. Thomas said up to 15
to 20 patients could be seen at one time.
Up to 10 additional staff would be hired for the use of the facility as well, according to the application.
Denise
Blakeslee, city planning and zoning administrator, said Friday that
once the business and property owners meet the conditions for the
permit, it can be issued.
