Herald should be careful not to harm Green's case

We cringed when the Herald recently ran a story about a controversial plan to drop a drug treatment facility into bucolic Green Township, Sussex County, and used these words to describe those concerned residents who formed a group to monitor the process:

"...Greenfield Action Committee -- a citizen action group formed to prevent the facility from coming to Green..."

In describing the residents in this way, the Herald is playing into the hands of an out-of-state corporate group that has used such characterizations to harness the power of the federal government to compel local governments to accept such facilities or face punitive consequences.  Fortunately, one of the citizen group's organizers clarified the group's purpose in a letter to the Herald.  It is printed in full, below:

Clarification about committee in Green

Posted: Jun. 22, 2017

Editor:

It was terrific reading the story about the Green Township Land Use Committee meeting in the Herald this morning, and thank you Katie for attending the meeting and giving our organization, the Greenfield Action Committee, a voice.

We do have a concern about one aspect of your story: You described us as a citizen action group formed to prevent the facility from coming to Green.

We're not comfortable with that characterization. We formed to ensure the conditional use variances Ambrosia seeks on Pequest Road were denied, believing suitable and appropriately designated areas already exist in the community that would be much less impacted.

We are not opposed to Ambrosia or its mission.

Jim Hohman

Greendell

And while we are discussing the Herald and its coverage of this issue, we should note that while the Herald is very vigilant regarding making anyone connected with a political campaign clearly identify who they are associated with and what position they hold, they are not so with corporate entities who have as much or even a greater impact on our community.  Individuals who are clearly associated with the addiction/mental health/rehab industry (and it clearly is an industry, just as your stockbroker if you don't believe us) are permitted to post on the Herald website without disclosing their affiliations.  This would never be allowed if it were a political campaign, so why is it allowed on something so important to not only Green Township, but to all of Sussex County?

And there is a political angle to all of this too, in the presence of Assemblywoman Holly Schepisi, an attorney representing the addiction/mental health/rehab industry giant that wants to build the drug treatment facility in this rural community.  For some reason, the Herald misses this fact and never mentions the political muscle brought to the table.  Assemblywoman Schepisi, who is only identified as an attorney in the Herald story, is quoted at length and appears to have some hostility towards the residents:  

Holly Schepisi, attorney for Hunting Bailey, LLP, and representative for Ambrosia Real Estate, said that her client did not feel that a second variance would be necessary due to the nature of the proposed facility and that fact that it would be intended for one principal use.

At the suggestion of the board, Schepisi elected to use a five-minute recess to confer with her clients, who were present.

"One aspect of this facility cannot exist without the other," Schepisi said, speaking after the meeting had reconvened. "They are part and parcel. We still strongly believe that there is no need for an additional variance, but in order to avoid dragging this process out for my client, we have decided to return to this matter at the next meeting in July."

Schepisi said that her clients had agreed to submit an application for a second variance...

Schepisi said during the meeting that several members of the community had crossed the line from concerned to aggressive throughout the course of the proceedings so far.

"Many of the residents have been great, and are here tonight because they don't know what is being proposed, and they are here to ask intelligent questions and get a better understanding of what my client does," Schepisi said at the start of the meeting and prior to any objection. "But there are other people sitting here tonight who, unfortunately have expressed vitriol against my client, against the property owners, personal attacks against members of my firm, and personal attacks against me. Some of the people sitting here tonight went so far as to urge people to call a corruption tip hotline on me to try to scare me off from doing my job. We are here to set the record straight and to explain what it is my client is trying to do."

With the greatest respect to the Assemblywoman, her client has crossed the line many, many times when it has compelled local communities -- forced them, against their will, even as they screamed "no means no" -- to accept their facilities.  The addiction/mental health/rehab industry has been guilty of this over and over again. 

There is a perverse Darwinism at work here that is called "conservative" by some, like the Koch Brothers, but is in fact just capitalism sucking a crack pipe filled with money, greed, and corruption.  One upon a time there was an America of place.  Our nation was a community of smaller communities.  Both Republicans and Democrats agreed on this.  President Franklin Delano Roosevelt's good friend Arthur Morgan wrote a book about it called, "The Small Community:  Foundation of democratic life."

Today we have a United States Supreme Court that allows corporations to use eminent domain for no better reason than to generate cash.  We have a State Supreme Court that uses COAH to destroy the rural aspect of communities and bring architectural blight to historic towns.  We have people, like the Koch Brothers, who believe that whoever has the most money should get their way and if they want to build a toxic waste dump on the village green they should be allowed to do it -- simply because they are richer and can buy more influence.  And if they don't get their way, they use federal law to cook-up some case to crush the small community that stands in their way -- just like the addiction/ mental health/rehab industry has been doing for years and years.

The addiction/mental health/rehab industry's mouthpiece, posting under the Herald article, threatened as much:

"...ultimately, the protection will be for the corporations and industry....the Town Leaders have a responsibility to the taxpayers. A long and costly battle with risk of federal penalties and fines isn't in the best interests of the taxpayers.  Historically, Ambrosia has prevailed when it encountered community resistance."

Should any community have to lay down for a threat like that? 

Maintaining the local democratic governance of the small community -- this conservatism of place -- is something that should concern not just Green Township, but all of Sussex County.  This is something, not only for the Sussex County League of Municipalities, but for the state League of Municipalities.  And not just this state -- but all states -- all small communities everywhere.  Reach out to other communities where this corporation has had its way or is threatening to have its way.  Reach out to all communities threatened by the Darwinian capitalist model used by this industry and others to have their way.  They can pick-off small communities like Green Township one by one, but banded together it becomes a much more difficult prospect.

Assemblywoman Schepisi should understand this.  In her role as a legislator, she recently conducted a public meeting on the effects of the unelected State Supreme Court's COAH rulings that mandate subsidized housing in New Jersey.  The un-democratic, politically-appointed Court has consistently pissed on local democracy, ignoring basic issues like clean drinking water for ever-expanding populations in the most densely populated state in America, while crushing the rights of a supposedly free people to determine how their communities will grow. 

We strongly, but respectfully, suggest to Assemblywoman Schepisi that she think of the small community of Green Township, and of the cause of local democracy, when engaging in negotiations with the residents there.  Maintain greater patience and calmly answer their questions and their process.  Make it work for the residents by showing on paper how it will lower their property taxes (and if it doesn't, have the corporation voluntarily pay a surcharge so that it will).  Make it so advantageous for the community that they are willing to put up with the changes to their beloved town that will most certainly come.  Convince them, do not attempt to compel them.  Remember, the only truly moral law is that derived from the consent of the governed.  All else is no more than brutal force under the guise of law.

Addiction Center troubles Green Township

David Danzis of the New Jersey Herald first reported on this yesterday:

GREEN -- The township Land Use Board has received an application for a property on Pequest Road which, if approved, would permit the operation of a high-end inpatient substance abuse treatment facility.

Ambrosia Real Estate of North Jersey LLC filed an application on March 6 seeking a conditional use variance, or in the alternative, a use variance, permitting the operation of an approximately 30-bed treatment facility.

The application had not been placed on an upcoming board agenda as of Friday afternoon, but a technical review committee did briefly review the application on March 16, according to meeting minutes. On April 13, a site visit of the proposed location at 73 Pequest Road was attended by members of the board and about 60 residents.

The applicant is part of an affiliated group of facilities known as Ambrosia Treatment Centers, of Palm Beach Gardens, Fla. Ambrosia operates a state licensed facility in Medford (Burlington County) in addition to three in Florida and one in Beverly Hills, Calif. The Medford location is a New Jersey Alliance of Recovery Residences certified residence.

According to a statement required to accompany the application, the dormitory facility would be an additional 15,000- to 18,000-square-foot residence on the property. The residential structure located on the 44.4-acre property would remain and serve as the primary clinical care and treatment facility, according to Ambrosia Real Estate of North Jersey LLC's legal counsel, Holly Schepisi, of Huntington Bailey LLP in Westwood.

The average patient stay at Ambrosia's residential facilities is 30 days or longer, as directed by clinical staff. Schepisi said the clients are all voluntary and are pre-screened before admission. She added that residents are not court mandated and all are "strictly non-violent."

The number of anticipated staff would be between 16 and 24 employees rotating on three shifts and would include clinical therapists, a facility director, support staff, registered nurses, a medical director, and kitchen and maintenance staff.

The applicant's planner and engineer are prepared to testify that relief ought to be granted because the variance being sought is "entirely consistent" with the township's Master Plan and Zoning Code, according to the submitted statement.

"Relief can be provided without any detriment to the public good," the statement reads.

Schepisi said any township resources -- such as medical, police (Green uses the New Jersey State Police) or fire -- would be consistent with a hospital or nursing home, both of which would be permitted uses of the proposed property, and because of required safety features -- such as sprinklers -- would use far less resources than a comparable house or farm in the township.

Schepisi said the location was chosen specifically because of its remoteness, which would provide privacy for patients and staff while not disturbing the surrounding community.

"Because of this property's unique location, size of 44.4 acres coupled with the private nature and characteristics of the property which will be maintained, the public benefit far outweighs any impairment to the zone plan and zoning ordinance," according to the submitted statement by the applicant.

The property has a listed asking price of $2.4 million. The adjoining property is roughly 19 acres and has an asking price of $395,000. The applicant is considering purchasing both parcels to provide an additional buffer.

The next Township Committee meeting is at 7 p.m. Monday. The next Land Use Board meeting is at 7 p.m. May 11.

http://www.njherald.com/20170430/ambrosia-treatment-centers-eyeing-green

Watchdog has done some research on Ambrosia Treatment Centers and what we came up with are some warning signs for Green Township officials and residents who are concerned about their community.  First, it is important to remember that these type of businesses are highly profitable and that they employ a lot of legal and political/lobbyist muscle. 

A review of their conduct in Florida, where Ambrosia Treatment Centers opened its first facilities, is instructive.  And how they address opposition to their facilities is particularly instructive.

In this case, the attorney for Ambrosia Treatment Centers is Assemblywoman Holly Schepisi, a Republican from Bergen County.  Schepisi could be involved in other ways as well, such as construction management, as her personal financial disclosure notes a number of related entities:

It is important for both the township and its residents to recognize that Ambrosia Treatment Centers has no qualms about going to court to get its way.  And the legal tools that they employee are the federal Americans with Disabilities Act and the Fair Housing Act. 

Americans with Disabilities Act

In order for an individual’s drug addiction to be considered a disability under the ADA, it would have to pose a substantial limitation on one or more major life activities. In addition, the individual could not currently use illegal drugs. The ADA requires that drug and alcohol addicts cannot be subjected to discrimination, including discrimination through a city’s zoning restrictions.

Fair Housing Act

It prohibits municipalities and other local government entities from making zoning or land use decisions or implementing land use policies that exclude or discriminate against individuals with disabilities, including recovering drug and alcohol addicts. Current substance users are not considered disabled.

Rehabilitation Act

It recognizes people with drug addiction who are participating in a supervised rehabilitation program and are no longer engaging in the illegal use of drugs. The act prohibits discrimination against people with the disability by any entity that receives federal financial assistance.

Source: www.justice.gov; www.usccr.gov

Yes, drug and alcohol addiction is considered a disability under federal law, so both Township officials and residents have to be very, very careful how they express their concerns lest they provide fodder for a law suit.  Don't make the mistakes that Port St. Lucie made.  There, individual local elected officials were sued personally.  This pressured them to reverse course.  Township officials and residents interested in protecting their community but avoiding these pitfalls should read the news clips below:

Stuart News, The (FL)

September 8, 2013

Detox center rejection may lead to lawsuit

PORT ST. LUCIE — If elected officials vote to reject a proposed detoxification center in the western part of the city, they will please hundreds of nearby residents who have mobilized to fight the project. But the city could open the door for a federal discrimination lawsuit.

And this will not be the first one.

Two drug treatment centers have filed complaints within the past year against Port St. Lucie. Other South Florida municipalities have faced similar lawsuits for not allowing drug treatment centers and sober homes.

Recovering drug addicts are considered disabled and protected by the Americans with Disabilities Act and the Fair Housing Act. The Housing Act prohibits local governments from making zoning or land use decisions that exclude or discriminate against disabled people.

A report by the Department of Children and Families found that federal courts have held government officials personally liable for decisions that violate the Housing Act...

 “There will be car thefts, home invasions, muggings, rapes and more,” resident Ed Giesing wrote in a letter to the editor.

Comments like Giesing’s could be used in a lawsuit. They could show there was discrimination against recovering drug addicts if the city rejects the detox center, Senior Assistant City Attorney Pam Booker told residents on Tuesday.

“When local governments give in to political pressure by residents, they lose,” she said. “It just doesn’t end well.”

Local governments can act on the basis of protecting the public health and safety of people affected by drug treatment centers and sober homes, the DCF report states. However, the governments must show objective recent evidence and not unsubstantiated assumptions.

Some local governments involved in discrimination lawsuits under the ADA and FHA have paid $1 million to $3 million in legal fees and damages, Booker said.

...Ambrosia Treatment Center sued the city when the officials denied a rezoning request for two homes on Duxbury Avenue, near Southwest Bayshore Boulevard. The center uses the homes as housing for patients receiving treatment off site.

“The City Commission and Planning and Zoning Board have held a number of hearings where members of the community have voiced NIMBY (‘Not in My Backyard’) comments opposing housing and treatment facilities for people in recovery,” the lawsuit states.

Ambrosia dropped the lawsuit when the city granted the rezoning request, Booker said.

Stuart News, The (FL)

September 25, 2013

Lawyer: Hearing provided fuel for lawsuit

PORT ST. LUCIE — A proposed drug treatment facility was rejected by City Council, but Monday night’s meeting to discuss it could have not gone better for the project’s proponents, their lawyer said...

“Last night’s hearing could not have gone better for us in terms of giving us ammunition for a federal lawsuit,” Green said Tuesday. “We got abundant evidence of public and official hostility against people with disabilities.”

Green said he is studying different legal options he can pursue, including a federal lawsuit and another one at the state level. He did not explain what the latter would allege.

Recovering drug and alcohol addicts are considered disabled and protected by two federal laws, the Americans with Disabilities Act and the Fair Housing Act, making it illegal for local governments to create laws that deny those people access to housing.

Green sent a letter to Port St. Lucie officials Sept. 20 asking them to not destroy or conceal any files, emails, voice mails or records that could be used as evidence in a possible lawsuit.

James K. Green, the West Palm Beach lawyer representing the treatment facility, states in the lawsuit that the city, Councilwoman Michelle Lee Berger and Mayor JoAnn Faiella violated the Americans with Disabilities Act, the Federal Fair Housing Act and the Rehabilitation Act of 1973.

Recovering drug and alcohol addicts are considered disabled under those federal acts, and denying them housing can be considered discriminatory and illegal.

The lawsuit asks the city to award unspecified damages to the treatment facility's developers for harm caused by discriminatory practices.

Not-in-my-backyard

"This case presents the familiar conflict between the legal principle of nondiscrimination and the political principle of not-in-my-back-yard ('NIMBY')," the lawsuit states.

The complaint quotes statements made by Berger, Faiella and residents in public meetings as evidence of discrimination.

"We are being targeted as a community. ... You can sue me personally, not the city, if you don't like my statement," Berger is quoted as saying. "Who the heck is happy when you buy a house ... watch the value go down. ... This is definitely worth going to court for ... if we can't regulate it by zoning."

Port St. Lucie Spokesman Ed Cunningham, Berger and Faiella could not be reached for comment.

A resident is quoted as saying at a public meeting, "I can't believe this is happening in Port St. Lucie with normal people. ... I'm scared to be right next door." (Treasure Coast Newspaper, December 31, 2013)

Green Township officials and residents do have recourse, but they must be careful in pursuing it.  Don't give Ambrosia Treatment Centers any ammunition to use against you.  Watchdog is exploring ways to address this matter.  One way is to examine the infrastructure needs of such a facility (police, fire, EMT) that might be lacking in Green Township.  Another is to demand community oversight.

Ambrosia Treatment Centers and Rutgers University recently made an agreement to test new forms of treatment for addiction.  This is certainly something the public should monitor and insist on having a seat at the table.  This Newswire story was released by Ambrosia Treatment Centers on September 6, 2016:

The Ambrosia Treatment Center (Ambrosia) announced today that it will partner with Rutgers University’s Center of Alcohol Studies to advance addiction treatment. The partnership aims to build on decades of research by testing new conceptual models and identifying evidence-based best practices for addiction treatments with the goal of ultimately finding practical ways to improve client services and outcomes, and serve as a foundation for strengthening addiction education.

“We are very excited to be partnering with Ambrosia to integrate drug and alcohol dependence research with community treatment approaches to find feasible strategies to improve the way the disease of addiction is treated,” said Dr. Marsha Bates, acting director of Rutgers Center of Alcohol Studies. “As the number of drug and alcohol dependent individuals continues to grow, we believe that collaborations, such as this one, are needed to help society find more answers.”

“Research is critical,” said Jerry Haffey, CEO of Ambrosia. “By tracking all data points – including seemingly unrelated details, like how often a client goes to the gym – we can come up with formulas for each individual that increases the likelihood of their permanent recovery. Rutgers has so much to offer, such as proven research processes, advanced data modeling and neuropsychological testing. Each evidence-based plan we tailor will now be that much more effective.”

Both entities are known for their leadership in the field of addiction.

Rutgers University’s Center of Alcohol Studies was the first interdisciplinary research center in the world devoted to the study of alcohol use, problems and treatment, a model that has been replicated hundreds of times. The center’s mission now includes a significant focus on drugs other than alcohol in response to growing social and scientific concerns with trends in drug use, abuse and dependence.

Ambrosia is accredited by the Joint Commission and has helped more than 10,000 clients with five alcohol and drug rehab centers across the country. The company is known for innovation, actively lobbying for legislation and publicly fighting to end the stigma of addiction.

The partnership has already started developing new strategies for measuring the processes of treatment and its outcomes, a first step in understanding how people change during treatment.

“We aim to improve the lives of those struggling with addiction,” added Dr. Bates.

Dr. Bates is working with Dr. Jennifer Buckman, interim director of the Education & Training Division at the Center of Alcohol Studies. Both are funded by the National Institutes of Health to study the use of breathing techniques to reduce addiction cravings and map how alcohol and drug cues affect the brain and trigger relapse.

Green Township residents and officials must be disciplined in their approach to this and take the emotions out of it.  Ask tough questions, demand oversight, and make Ambrosia Treatment Centers understand that if they build this facility, they will have an ongoing, active partner -- an informed and questioning public -- to answer to, day-in and day-out.

We are continuing our research...