Drug treatment center won’t be relocated

Thursday, July 24, 2003 | 11:02 a.m.

A certified drug treatment center that provides counseling for at least 200 convicted drug offenders per day will remain next to a middle school.

New Las Vegas Councilwoman Janet Moncrief does not want to spend an estimated $1.5 million in city funds to relocate the Choices Group Inc., facility at 800 S. Valley View Blvd. The decision is her first significant solo act as an elected official and reverses the course set by her predecessor.

Former Ward 1 City Councilman Michael McDonald, whom Moncrief defeated in the June general election, had questioned whether the center was suitable in the Ward 1 neighborhood and introduced a proposed ordinance to prevent such future businesses from being established in residential neighborhoods.

That bill died when Moncrief, at her first council meeting on June 18, asked it to be held in abeyance. Because the proposed ordinance had been published, it died for failure of a vote within 30 days of that public notification.

"I cannot see spending $1.5 million in taxpayer money to move it when we can monitor it," Moncrief said Wednesday.

She announced that Choices would stay put at her first town meeting Tuesday night at the Elks Lodge on West Charleston Boulevard. About 60 Ward 1 residents attended.

"No one wants this type of business in their back yard, but there is no suitable place where we can move it," she said. "We are trying to redevelop downtown, so it won't work there. I want the residents and business owners in the area to be our eyes and ears and let me know if there are problems. Let's just see how this works for now."

Moncrief said she has made changes she feels will eliminate potential problems and quell some concerns of residents and business owners. Among the changes:

"These are not hardened felons, but rather young people who made a mistake and need a chance to clear their record," Moncrief said, "There have been success stories from this program, and there will be more."

The Choices facility has been a political hot potato for more than a year.

A loophole in the city's zoning and licensing requirements led to the drug counseling center being allowed to open in August 2001, just feet from Hyde Park Middle School. But it went pretty much unnoticed until last June.

Choices' business license application initially was denied because a special use permit was needed for that area. But somehow the facility was granted a permit for an outpatient drug treatment center. McDonald alleged that city employees approved the center to make him and Mayor Oscar Goodman look bad.

Although only two people addressed the issue at Moncrief's town hall meeting, news of her decision Wednesday was met with skepticism.

"Her decision is not surprising, but disappointing," said Yiorgo Aretos, owner of Sonio's restaurant on the corner of Valley View and Charleston Boulevard, about a block from Choices.

"Choices is not the problem. No one is arguing that they do not do good work. They do help people. The problem has always been that this type of business just doesn't belong in this neighborhood. It's a very simple argument."

Aretos, saying he plans to run for Moncrief's seat in four years, said just last month his restaurant was victimized by gang graffiti that occurred at about the time Choices closed for the day.

"(Choices) cannot control what their clients do once they are closed," Aretos said. "It is an extremely poor decision to not move Choices."

An official for Choices said it is corporate policy not to comment on news stories. She declined to comment on the changes Moncrief requested or on the company's relationship with neighbors, surrounding businesses and the school.

Attempts to reach the principal at Hyde Park Wednesday were not successful. Moncrief said she has talked with school officials and they have told her there have been no problems at the school associated with Choices cliental.

City officials said Choices was given a business license equivalent to a medical office because it most closely mirrors that use.

The city has no licensing category for a drug treatment center and no separation requirements between the uses and schools. The proposed ordinance that died in June would have set such standards.

Moncrief, a nurse and medical clinic co-owner, says she has no plans to resurrect that ordinance.

Choices Group Inc. moved from its original location on Third Street to the two-story building at Valley View near Fulton Avenue five months after the Las Vegas Sun moved from that site to its current offices in Henderson in March of 2001.

At the center, the staff counsels men and women who agreed to attend the one-year counseling program as an alternative to going to jail after being convicted of drug offenses in Clark County courts. Its daily case load has been reported at more than 200 clients a day.

City officials have estimated it would cost $1 million to $1.5 million to relocate Choices because the city would be obligated to take over Choices five-year lease on the property.