Dear Editor:
We recently built our home at 488 West Road and moved in with our three little girls two yeas ago.
We are outraged at the lack of action by the town to allow 909 West Road to operate as a commercial business in our residential neighborhood.
This is not a monitored operation, nor does it have a live-in trained addiction supervisor that will highly monitor the residents inhabiting this residential home.
It is a commercial use facility operating out of a home.
This home is being used for an unregulated profit operation. If a sober house operated next door to your family residence, would you be open and welcoming to this operation with open arms? Would you feel that your children were safe when their new neighbors are only 30 days out of a drug/alcohol rehab facility (without a trained/licensed medical staff member on site at all times)? Would you be confident in selling your home without fear of devaluation?
All valid concerns that this town is responsible to answer to tax-paying citizens. To allow this operation to move forward without pause is irresponsible.
I had to ask the town if I could put a wood post in the ground at the top of our driveway to show our address number for our home (since you can’t see the house from the road). They finally OK’d it and said the town actually owns 25 feet from the yellow line divider on either side of the road because West Road has a grandfather clause (because it is one of the oldest streets in town).
Not all laws are applicable to West as other roads in town. There could be a loophole here when the attorney starts the research process to dispute this commercial business at number 909.
If I have to ask permission to the town to put a house number marker on a wood post at the top of our driveway, wouldn’t it make sense that several unattended and unsupervised recovering addicts would need permission some how to move into a residential home on West for commercial business purposes? I am all for the cause, but not in a residential area.
Clearly, does not make sense. The power of numbers will prevail if the incredible residents in this town stick together.
Caren Miller
West Road, New Canaan
Caren,
I feel for you. I know exactly where you are bc I too lived at 488 West Road for 7 years till 1978. I was 8 years old when we moved in. I can’t imagine my Mother being happy about this situation. She had 4 kids, the youngest were 5 years old when we moved in. I am shocked that NC did not have a town meeting for you and all the neighbors greatly affected by this establishment, to voice your concerns. I hope you can fight this and get them to give you a feeling of comfort for you and your family. Good luck and stay strong
Stacy Kaufman Smith
Dear frightened neighbors:
There is a Federal Law here that makes this and any other conversation about this home a moot point:
Housing Laws are such that no one may be discriminated against based on their disability – PERIOD. Addiction is a disease and recognized as such- therefore all of this is a waste of time.
But to respond anyway, I know it would be nice to keep all the “bad people” out of our perfect town, this is not how the law works. Furthermore, the conversation shows how ignorant most are about the situation. These sober house residents, mostly successful businessmen commuting to run their successful companies, are SOBER (tested daily and must leave if not) and therefore likely to cause less noise or any other “inconvenience” than a “normal” household in New Canaan, an oxymoron to say the least. We are all entitled to peaceful enjoyment in our homes- even those who are SOBER! What exactly do you see as a threat with these people practicing abstinence, faith, mindfulness and “doing the next right thing.?”
If anyone actually knew the statistics, they would see that New Canaan and even West Road is home to plenty of criminals (mostly white collar) and persons who have been arrested (OH DEAR) for corruption, fraud, domestic violence, DUI, drug possession, harassment and much more.
Do the neighbors also know that one person in every family has the disease of addiction? That over 28,000 people die every year from it and that these (so called dangerous) SOBER houses are helping thousands to RECOVER before going home to their families?
Therefore I say to the neighbors on West Road- the law is against you and there is NOTHING you can do about it.
Although I know it must be HORRIBLE for your children to have to live near SOBER men in recovery (although it sounds like you are nicely tucked way off the road and in your perfect little bubble) you might be surprised to know the statistics – about half of all children will abuse alcohol and drugs at one time in their life.
Instead of wasting your treasured money on lawyers in a losing battle, you might consider seeing this as a wonderful opportunity to educate your children and each other about the dangers of addiction, (and the benefits of RECOVERY).
Although, unfortunately for your children, that likely wont happen as the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree.
I WELCOME RECOVERY OF ALL TYPES TO OUR TOWN!! We certainly NEED it!
For someone who has such a strong opinion, it’s lame that you won’t use your real name.
This is not about addiction, recovery or discrimination. This is not about Fear. This is about an operating FOR PROFIT business , a rooming house rotating dozens of men through the home in the course of one year. The operators of this facility opened without alerting the town. There are no permits, there has been no process, and there is no regulation.
This is about a single family neighborhood being turned commercial overnight thereby severely affecting the values of the neighboring properties.
The real question is “what is reasonable accommodation” and how do you provide that without negatively impacting other citizens. How can you protect one class of people – the disabled – and not protect other citizens from financial loss of value of their property?
We do not believe this is all a waste of time and would happily accept a check from you DF, to cover our losses.
By the way, if you use your name and address, perhaps we can open a sober house next door to you.
Kristen-
They call it “Alcoholics Anonymous” for a reason. I work in the financial industry in NYC and my personal life nor health is up for public discussion – this is not about ME. My name and address is only relevant to you so you can personally attack me, as you both have with others – not helpful- lets stick to the issues. But for the record, I lived next to Silverhill for many years and never had a problem. In fact, I used it as an opportunity for service and volunteering. It was a wonderful time for me and my family. My husband and I now are married almost 25 years and our children are mostly “out of the nest.”
Let’s stick to the facts and issues at hand; my experience is helpful in understanding these issues. (BTW I might add that being in recovery and applying the principles of the program is very helpful dealing with difficult people and issues in life, you don’t have to be in recovery to benefit from the 12 steps, FYI)
You claim this is about the process that the Lighthouse went through (or lack of) when they rented the home, as well as the fact that this is a “for profit” initiative. Others have claimed how “fearful;” they are about “these people” moving in to the neighborhood.
Lets assume for a minute that the Lighthouse is now going through the process that you felt they should have originally, and thereby strike this problem off the list. You may not like how they handled it- they feel they didn’t do anything wrong- now everyone is getting their say, so this is a moot point.
Moving on, it appears that your main concern then, if you claim you have no issue with sobriety and recovery, is the so-called devaluation of the property because THE HOMEOWNER (909 West Rd) chose to rent it out to a group who in turn leases rooms to individuals in recovery.
Additionally you are unhappy that the Lighthouse is a commercial venture in a residential neighborhood and that this will somehow cause a chain of events that will lead to the entire neighborhood and possibly the entire town losing property values.
I think the only way you can truly prove this devaluation point (even though it isn’t a valid reason to keep these folks from renting a home in your neighborhood, never mind it is against the law)
is to put your money where your mouth is.
Why don’t you do your homework and show how this happens? I would love to see the statistics – perhaps an example from another town (actual sales value dropping due to a sober house being in the neighborhood- not in theory) because otherwise it is all theoretical. I don’t believe this exists.
The fact is that your homes have lost value already. (perhaps this is the real problem.) The new generation finds large homes in the outskirts of a town much less desirable now – for reasons that have nothing to do with whether a sober home is being rented or not. Millennial home buyers think these large homes are sending the wrong image (whereby it used to be important to have an image that says “I have money” nowadays, buyers are more concerned about social responsibility- hmmmm.)
Couple this with a stagnant economy and your large homes have lost value. Really, they have come back down to where they were before the irrational rise in value, (bubble) if you look at the historical trends. Depending on when you bought, you likely overpaid for the property, and now the home values are correcting. These factors are basic supply and demand that have nothing to do with whether a home is rented in the area. There is no “registry” of people living in the area like sex offenders because people in recovery are not criminals – rather they are in recovery from a disease.
Case in point, look at the beautiful homes near Silverhill hospital – and these patients have psychiatric issues in addition to drug/alcohol problems. The town looks upon this institution in such a positive way. New Canaan boasts and has a reputation for offering a terrific facility and the neighbors who live there are proud. How many beautiful homes located there are considered less desirable? I was in one of them for many years and could have bought a home anywhere in town. My property value went up from when we sold the home- a function of the economy.
Regarding the tax classification of the Lighthouse. Whether
“for profit” or “not for profit” the mission of the home is to help people in recovery. They are barely covering their costs. This is not an “investment or private equity group” whose main concern is their ROI (return on investment.) Look at so many non profits in the state/country who make hundreds of millions of dollars and you will know that the tax classification of an organization is not necessarily/rarely equal to the mission.
Question: Would you be ok with everything if the Lighthouse volunteered their time? I didn’t think so.. Therein, what is the real problem here….
The simple fact is that we as a town, and a world, have a very serious problem on our hands.
This is about the disease of addiction and alcoholism and our/your willingness as a town resident to be open minded to the solution. A sober house is another option since most hospitals rarely ever have any “beds” (openings.) We need more options and we have no choice, its only going to get worse. The disease doesn’t discriminate and lets face it- not many can afford to live in New Canaan – whether renting or buying. So you can be sure that the socio economic levels of these men in recovery are the same, if not higher, than the fine people of West Road.
A sober house is a beautiful thing. Think of it like a place for someone with a disease like cancer, where they can go and be others who suffer from the disease. Just like Cancer isn’t contagious, neither is the disease of Alcoholism/Addiction. Some of the most successful and well known people in our world are in recovery. Most sober homes are sanctuaries filled with love, sobriety, spirituality and a feeling of well being and health. The good news is that most people in the country recognize these organizations- whether for profit or not- as a valuable addition to their communities. It would be nice if the rest of us could understand this as well.