Currently, a concerning issue in McLean is the planned mental-health-treatment facility on Davidson Road, near McLean High School. Here are five letters-to-the-editor posted by the Sun Gazette regarding this plan -- 1 Pro and 4 Cons:
CON: Hold elected officials accountable on McLean treatment facility
In 2006, I was invited to babysit for a family of two small girls in our community in McLean. Soon, I was invited as a family guest to birthday parties, lazy summer afternoons and Popsicles by the pool.
My input was requested as they made plans to build their family's new house by McLean High School, and in 2008, the family moved into its beautiful new home. I admired how generous they continued to be to everyone in their tribe: family, friends and new neighbors alike. They hosted dinners, pool parties and doggie playdates.
Later that year, my boyfriend was offered a teaching position abroad. The family lovingly supported our long-distance relationship. Upon his return, the family suggested, helped plan, and baked dozens of cupcakes for a welcome-home party at a restaurant in Alexandria.
Not long after, my boyfriend and I were engaged to be married. The family readily offered to host a reception so all of our friends and loved ones could attend. This time, they hosted at their home in McLean. It was a beautiful event, a true celebration of love.
In 2011, we were given an opportunity to purchase our first home. An option came on the market that was in a wonderful neighborhood, excellent school district and close to work. To our elation, it shared a property line with this family.
It was a warm afternoon by their pool when my husband and I shared that we were expecting our first baby. Again, at their home, the family hosted the most elaborate baby shower any woman could ask for. I felt like a queen.
Little feet turned into beautiful young women walking across graduation stages. The home was feeling more like an empty nest, and the family put up a perfect presentation for sale, inviting the next family to write its story.
I spent the last decade of my life in 1624 Davidson Road. Now I may have to spend the next decade of my life telling my children to stay away from there.
Newport Academy is taking steps to open its latest mental-health-treatment facility in three contiguous Davidson Road homes, plus one a mile away. They are using every perversion of the law to label this commercial campus as separate group residences.
This injustice cannot be tolerated. We must stand together in our demand to our elected officials, county and commonwealth’s attorneys and the licensing authorities to enforce the spirit of laws written to protect us.
-- by Josephine Vera, McLean
CON: Elected officials need to protect McLean from treatment facility
I'm at resident of Salona Village, the location of the medical-treatment facility on Kurtz Road that is one of the four pending facilities planned to operate as a "group home" by Newport Academy in McLean.
I would like to underscore that the opposition to these facilities is not opposition to mental-health or drug-rehabilitation facilities for teens. However, we do vehemently oppose grouping of such facilities into compounds, locations in close proximity to elementary and high schools, and abuse of the intent of a "group home".
Newport Academy is a for-profit corporation that will have patients rotating through facilities every 42 to 70 days. This is an Airbnb-style treatment facility, and patients are not residents seeking transitional housing, which is the true intent of a "group home" and the Fair Housing Act.
Our elected officials need to categorize these facilities by their true nature, congregate-living facilities requiring special-exception permits, and prohibit facilities operating within 1,000 meters of schools.
This is not a new phenomenon; many towns across the country have been caught flat-footed when these big businesses move into residential neighborhoods. Our elected officials need to be proactive and move quickly to protect our residential communities.
-- by Jason Hein, McLean
PRO: Opponents of McLean treatment facility distort reality
Six. That is the number of young McLean residents I know personally who have died from an opiate overdose.
This number does not capture the countless more young people I know from my town who have survived an overdose and whose lives have been ruined by addiction. Nor does it represent those who have died by suicide or who suffer from debilitating mental illness.
I was raised in McLean and attended McLean High School. I live here with my parents as I finish my law-school education. I work as a law clerk with the mental-health division of a local public-defender service. In my career thus far, I have worked with youth and adults experiencing mental illness and addiction, and am deeply familiar with how a lack of rehabilitation services deprives people who are suffering from the chance to heal.
I had a safe, loving experience growing up in McLean. Despite my comfortable upbringing, many of my peers were not so lucky. They suffered from addiction and mental illness, and were hindered in seeking help because of stigma and shame. There is a pitiful lack of services for youth suffering from these diseases, and those who seek help often are unable to access it, even in our affluent community.
I am often embarrassed when I tell people where I'm from. When I mention McLean, many people wrinkle their noses, assuming I am a snob before they’ve had a chance to get to know me. I fight back against this stereotype, but after witnessing my community’s reaction to the possible opening of Newport Academy, I fear the stereotype is grounded in truth.
I acknowledge that the idea of a group home is frightening to the more traditional and even close-minded members of our community. But I know I speak on behalf of other McLean residents when I say that prejudice against youth experiencing addiction and mental illness has no place in our community.
Many of these fears -- that the homes will be dangerous, that they will change the character of our neighborhoods, that they will be a commercial enterprise in a residential area -- are unfounded and, frankly, ignorant.
Three residential homes on a quiet back street is not a commercial enterprise. Youth trying to rehabilitate are not to be feared. For-profit community-based treatment centers are a necessary resource in a state with a deficit of mental-health services.
I know some may disagree, but I will not allow largely unfounded concerns about traffic to act as a cover for the real reason for opposition. I will not stand by in silence and allow this ignorance to proliferate.
These fear-mongering sentiments do not represent the community I know and love.
Our town includes many, many young people who need the kind of help Newport Academy provides. By rejecting Newport, you send a message that the stigma they feel is real, and that they should not seek the help they desperately need. But by accepting Newport, you send a message that McLean is an open, progressive community that welcomes struggling youth seeking treatment with open arms.
-- by JMichaela Lovejoy, McLean
CON: More transparency needed on treatment-facility proposal in McLean
On April 24, 500 of my McLean neighbors and I attended the community meeting at McLean High School regarding the three residential properties Newport Academies purchased on Davidson Road. The community comments were passionate, and when the meeting ended at 11 p.m., there were still more than 100 people advocating for our community.
I am writing to express my concern about how Newport Academy has conducted itself in the acquisition of these properties, and the initial response from our elected leaders.
My family moved to McLean in 2008, and other than a few years away in the Midwest, my children consider McLean "home". Our eldest will start at McLean High School in the fall, with our youngest following in three years.
I approached the meeting with an open mind, ready to listen to Newport Academy explain why and how its leaders selected the properties. However, not long into the PowerPoint presentation, I had serious concerns.
I am not opposed to community-based treatment for mental-health issues. I am a strong supporter. My concern is about how privately-held, for-profit Newport Academy approached its business dealings with the community, something that has raised concerns about the company’s honesty in being a "good neighbor".
Let's do the math. Newport Academy purchased three adjacent properties on Davidson Road. Newport Academy claims there will be on average seven to nine cars per house at all times -- that's 21 to 27 cars parked on Davidson Road.
The CEO of Newport Academy stated that, along with psychologists and therapists, family is an integral part of recovery treatment. In my experience, a successful treatment program does have strong family involvement, but that also means an increase in traffic during visiting hours for the up to 24 patients who will reside in these three properties for 6 to 10 weeks.
To support the parking required for the vehicular traffic, Newport Academy has paved over much, if not all, of the green space in front of the Davidson Road properties.
I am also concerned about rainwater runoff – the water will go where gravity takes it, meaning into the neighboring properties or right down onto Davidson Road. As the current president of the McLean Swim and Tennis Club (MSTA) that sits nearby, I'm concerned about the increase in traffic on this tiny road used by hundreds of kids who walk and bike to the pool.
I have been the benefits and support efforts to provide treatment that families can fully be a part of. My concern -- even anger -- is how Newport Academy is flouting a "loophole" in the law. My challenge to our elected leadership is this: don’t be passive; engage and question what is going on here.
Yes, mental-health issues are the silent killer in our society today. Many people, of all ages, suffer. Treatment options are few and far between for many families. Something like Newport Academy may be an option. Community-based treatment may be an option. McLean is happy and willing to be a good neighbor. But we expect the same level of transparency and honesty from those who wish to do business in our community.
Newport Academy has not done that here.
-- by Jennifer Longmeyer-Wood, McLean
CON: Treatment facility is trying to masquerade as something else
McLean is a neighborhood with many selling points, ideal proximity to D.C. and all of the benefits of suburbia: a sense of community, good schools, access to community parks and a walkable neighborhood feel. Like Dorothy said, "there's no place like home", and McLean is an ideal place to raise a family.
Unfortunately, this could all change overnight with the addition of Newport Academy as our new "neighbor".
A common misconception is that the community is outraged over the patients that Newport will treat. That's because, rather than listen to what residents are really saying and the questions for which they are seeking answers, Newport and our own elected representatives are playing the "discrimination" card for easy soundbites and media coverage.
Newport purchased three homes on one road and required the real estate agents involved to sign non-disclosure agreements. When local residents learned of these purchases, they started to ask questions: Had a traffic survey been done? No. Had anyone on the street or at the high school or local elected officials been notified of their purchases of all of the homes? No.
On Davidson Road -- which is a poorly maintained, narrow main thoroughfare for McLean High School -- Newport Academy will add approximately 80 or more cars per day in and out, including at peak shift-change/dismissal around 3 p.m.
Students already have been the victims of car accidents on Westmoreland Street. There are no crosswalks on Davidson, no crossing guards, and traffic at 8 a.m. and 3 p.m. and at evening events already backs up down the street past the proposed site of the Newport compound.
All of this is peanuts compared to the elephant in the room: how can anyone purchase all of the homes on a cul-de-sac and claim that it is a residential use?
On that point, residents started to call our supervisor and ask questions. We were all told that this was a facility of right under federal housing laws, so there was nothing that could be done.
This, however, is nothing more than a politically correct soundbite designed to absolve the zoning representatives of their sworn duties.
Federal housing law has a legitimate interest in protecting against housing discrimination on account of disability (including addiction and mental illness). However, that does not negate the state’s duty to residents to enforce existing regulations.
This will be, under the Fairfax County ordinance, a congregate-living facility, a designation that allows for short-term-care services to minors. But the ordinance also insists on a number of requirements to protect the neighborhood and the minors at the facility, including a traffic study.
Do not allow big business to pervert our ordinances to avoid compliance and safety regulations that are meant to protect all involved. I'm awaiting leadership from Supervisor John Foust, Del. Rip Sullivan and county officials.
-- by Kristin Weithas-Furth, McLean