No. Castle Determination on Treatment Center Moved to Jan. 25
A California-based teen treatment center hoping to move into a residential Armonk neighborhood has agreed to a new timetable for North Castle officials to formally support or object to the proposed facility.
Paradigm Treatment Centers, LLC, which is looking to operate a residential program for teen depression, anxiety and addiction in an eight-bedroom house at 14-16 Cole Drive, was unable to submit all the information requested by the town last week stemming from a public discussion of the issue at the Nov. 30 town board meeting. It is now scheduled to make the submission today (Tuesday), Town Attorney Roland Baroni told the board last week.
As a result, attorneys for the center, headquartered in Malibu, Calif., have agreed to wait until the Jan. 25 town board meeting for the board to make its determination on the issue.
Under state law, while the Office of Mental Health (OMH) is the licensing agency, the host municipality has up to 40 days to support or object to a facility. If a local government objects to the plan, a hearing before the state health commissioner is scheduled.
There is limited justification for a municipality to object to the facility, mainly overconcentration of these types of residences in the area.
A special town board meeting tentatively scheduled for Jan. 9, which was the 40th day from Paradigm’s previous notification, has been canceled, said town Supervisor Michael Schiliro.
As part of the requested information, Baroni said that on Dec. 9, Paradigm submitted an updated list of similar residential facilities in Westchester that fall under OMH’s jurisdiction. It showed that there were four facilities within roughly a three-mile radius of the Cole Drive location – three in Bedford and one in Windmill Farm, Baroni said.
However, Paradigm’s attorneys requested that the town waive some of its rights in determining whether that list is complete, he said.
“We never had that conversation,” Baroni said. “I never had that conversation with Paradigm’s lawyers.”
He said counsel for the neighbors will have standing on all correspondences.
Residents in proximity to the Cole Drive house, which is owned by New York Life CEO Ted Mathas, came out in force for the board’s Nov. 30 meeting, denouncing the plan. They argued that Paradigm’s four existing locations in Malibu are drug and substance abuse treatments centers and suspected they would be similarly treating teens with drug problems.
Such a facility would negatively impact their quality of life, including the likelihood of increased traffic and strain on sewer and water, neighbors argued.
In their correspondences with the town, Paradigm representatives have stated that the Armonk facility would serve youngsters 12 to 17 years old suffering from various addictions as well as anxiety and depression. Some teens could also have co-occurring substance abuse issues, although that would not be the primary issue.
There could be up to eight teen patients and 10 employees at the site at any time.
While only a handful of neighborhood residents came out for last week’s board meeting, the ones that spoke remained ardently against the proposal.
“We are firmly objecting to this and will be objecting, and we are appreciative, and if the town chooses to turn down this application or object to it, speaking for myself and others similarly situated, we thank you for giving us the standing for allowing us to carry the cudgel,” said resident Robert Rattet.
Martin has more than 30 years experience covering local news in Westchester and Putnam counties, including a frequent focus on zoning and planning issues. He has been editor-in-chief of The Examiner since its inception in 2007. Read more from Martin’s editor-author bio here. Read Martin’s archived work here: https://www.theexaminernews.com/author/martin-wilbur2007/