Please proceed.
The comprehensive plan recommends no change to the existing RSA 3 single-family zoning at this location.
The appellant's claim hardship is self-created as they began renovation for multifamily after the multifamily zoning permit expired and they had a permit for vacant property.
Accordingly, the Planning Commission recommends the board deny the variance for three-family dwelling.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Mr. Nockamson, we're going to take this to executive session next week.
We'll vote on this at 2 p.m. next Wednesday.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Give me a chance to talk to the other board members, too.
Thank you.
I appreciate it.
And let's go to number one.
Let's go to number one.
So MI 2023, 007-020-508-14 Moore Street.
Darwin Beauvais is the attorney.
Steve Masters represents the Protestants.
Good morning, Mr. Masters, could you state your name and spell it for the court stenographer?
We're not hearing you, Steve.
We can't hear you, Steve.
Darwin, could you say your name and spell for the courts?
Darwin Beauvais, D-A-R-W-I-N, Beauvais, B-E-A-U-V, as in Victory, A-I-S, as in Sam.
I represent the applicant.
Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, to hold truth, nothing but the truth?
Thank you.
Mr. Masters?
We're having a hard time.
Sorry, Chair.
I was going to suggest that he go out and come back in.
Yeah, why don't you go out and come back, Steve?
Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Hillary, do we have Mr. Master's phone number?
There he is.
Mr. Master.
Are you able to hear me now?
We hear you, sir.
Thank you.
All right.
Awesome.
Could you state your name and spell for the court stenographer?
Good morning, Mr. Chair, members of the board.
My name is Steve Masters, S-T-E-V-E, M-A-S-T-E-R-S, and I'm with the law firm of JustLaws.
Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth?
So this is a resumptive hearing.
Here's what we're looking at today.
A cross-examination of John Disley by Mr. Masters.
A cross-examination of John Disley by Mr.
Any additional witnesses from the applicant?
Protestants' presentation, public testimony, and then planning.
Mr. Chairman, I believe at the last hearing, we rested our case.
You're not bringing any more witnesses on?
I don't remember you saying that, but maybe I'm...
Yeah, it was after, just before John Disley testified.
All right.
Mr. Chairman, there's another witness listed by the applicant, but if they are waiving that, that's obviously up to them.
I don't know who that is.
Matt Sullivan.
Yeah, Mr. Bovee, that's why we weren't sure if there were any additional witnesses, because Matthew Sullivan was on your witness list.
had not heard from him thank you that's that's fine but he did right on that last list all right
thank you john disley you see mr disley in the audience
no chair
to testify at the last hearing yeah but we were looking for cross today right right
was was uh was was moved to this resumption here right
mr disley
I see nobody by their name, too.
Okay. Thank you.
He's not here, Steve.
Okay. Well, I can go through some of the exhibits that I would have asked him about.
So just for that we're clear for the record, the applicant has concluded their case.
Mr. Masters, we're now moving into the presentation from the protestants.
Thank you. So, Mr. Chair, members of the board, I will give a brief opening and then we will have a series of witnesses for the objectors.
um this is a um this is a case that has um caused a significant amount of alarm and and um and
concern among the near neighbors and it isn't for a typical reason that you may hear uh in in this
board when neighbors come forward and say that they are opposed to alcohol and drug treatment
centers in their neighborhood. My clients are not opposed to those treatment centers when they're
run well, when they will help the people who they're treating and not cause a nuisance or
a quality of life, significant quality of life issues to their, to the surrounding neighbors.
The reason that we're here today is because it is our, it is, it is our firm belief and it will be
explained to you in detail from our expert, who is one of the most established and experienced
leaders and operators of recovery treatment centers and all kinds of every level of drug
and alcohol treatment facilities, both in Philadelphia, in Pennsylvania, in the region,
um and uh for for very many years um we're here on a special exception where we have to show as
the objectors that there is credible evidence that this facility if it were to open would
be a a net harm to the to the neighbors it wouldn't be like an average uh facility it would
be worse um and that's what we're what that's what we intend to prove today there also is a
variance before you and that's on parking and you'll hear some testimony that the amount of
parking that is um that would be needed to run this facility is quite a bit more than the parking
spaces that are um that are being provided under this plan but the major the major issue before
you today is a special exception um so i will um i would at this time like to call um our expert um
is mike carl
mike carl has been allowed to speak
Mike Harrell has been allowed to speak.
Could he be promoted to the panelist, please?
Mike Harrell is coming in as a panelist.
Good morning, sir.
Good morning.
Hi, could you please state your name and spell for the court stenographer?
Yeah, my name is Michael Harrell.
um m-i-c-h-a-e-l uh harle h-a-r-l-e you swear or affirm to tell the truth the whole truth and
nothing but the truth yes i do please proceed counsel um good morning mr harle are you able
to put your video on uh i think so let me see here there you go all right okay we can see you
much better now. All right. Mike, I wanted to review your CV, and then I'm going to be making
a request, Mr. Chair, that Mr. Har will be designated as an expert witness. Can you tell
us about your career with addiction treatment facilities? I started in the field in 1972
as a trainee. So, and I worked at the first residential treatment program for drugs in
Philadelphia and helped keep it alive and expanded throughout the state of Pennsylvania and in other
states. So I started as a counselor, a counselor trainee. I moved up from a counselor to a clinical
supervisor, from a supervisor to a program director, from a program director to a regional
director, from a regional director to an associate executive director. And then later in 1988, I became
the president of Godenzie Incorporated and stayed that in that position up until two years ago when
I retired. So Godenzie, is that the is that the agency that you've been affiliated with the
longest yes how many oh sorry over 50 years 50 years how many facilities did your agency operate
when you were the ceo uh when when i first took over it had uh six facilities six facilities and
when i left uh it had um 70 locations with uh over 100 programs in those 70 locations many of those
Some of the locations had multiple levels of care in the same facility.
Were there any facilities that you were in charge of in Philadelphia?
Do those still exist?
How about in the rest of Pennsylvania?
Yes. And we have, we have about 25 or 40 programs within, within the state of Pennsylvania, not including Philadelphia, where we have, I think it's, I got to count about 25 different programs in Philadelphia. And in about, we're in about 25 locations in Philadelphia.
Okay. In other states, do you have other, did you ever leave facilities in other states also?
Yes, we operate, we were asked by the governor, I mean, the mayor who then became the governor to open up some of the first residential programs.
They had a long history of losing residential treatment programs, and we were asked to come down and consult with them and open up programs.
And we now have, we've been there in 20 years since 2001.
And we have, we're the second, probably the largest program in the state of Maryland.
Oh, okay.
I wasn't sure if you had said Maryland before.
So you're talking about Maryland?
Maryland, also Delaware, the state of Delaware.
We operate programs in Delaware and in Washington, D.C.
And we have helped consult the open programs in New York City.
So can you share leadership positions that you've held both locally, nationally and internationally and in various organizations connected to your profession?
Yeah. So I'm the past president of Philadelphia Alliance of Mental Health, Mental Retardation and Intellectual Disability Programs.
and I was that for some period of time.
I'm also the past president of the state of Pennsylvania's
Drug and Alcohol Service Providers Organization.
I'm the past president of the World Federation,
I mean, the treasurer of the World Federation of Treatment Programs.
There are 35 treatment programs like Gadenzia in 35 countries around.
treatment programs like Gidenzia in 35 countries around the world. And I also
was past president of the Treatment Centers of America, which is located in Washington, D.C.,
which has programs throughout the country and in Canada.
Mike, have you ever been hired by any state or local governments to consult or teach?
Yes. My job wasn't to do that, but I did that when it would help the field because I really believe in what the field does and what Gadenzia has done is also being done by many other people.
So anywhere I could help, I tried to help.
Were any of those state or local government agencies in Pennsylvania?
Yes. I was also a consultant to the state of Pennsylvania.
to actually develop the clinical criteria for admissions and the transition to the ASAM.
Have you ever testified before federal, state, or local government bodies?
Yes, on numerous occasions. Congress, state, and multiple states.
Okay. Have you ever participated in local zoning hearings for substance use disorder residential treatment centers?
too many to count um and um probably in pennsylvania over 50.
um some we were successful and some we weren't so in all of the zoning hearings that you've been
to up till now um have you ever opposed a residential treatment center in the past no
um i'm gonna ask at this point mr chair for mr hart will be recognized as a substance use
Disorder Residential Treatment Expert. Mr. Bovey, do you have any comments?
No. Okay, that's fine. I recognize his expertise. All right, thank you. Mr. Harrell,
do you have any experience with evaluating proposed new substance use disorder treatment
facilities in general? Yes. What are the key factors that you look at when you evaluate a
proposed SUD residential treatment facility? Well, we look at the need, the ability of the
management team, which includes the board, whether it be a board of directors or ownership,
who they are and what their expertise is in the area. We also then look at the clinical
makeup of the program and the experience they have with opening such-like programs.
We also look at the day-to-day management that they're proposing.
So we also look at the marketing.
What is the environment that they're working in and what is their relationships with the environment that they're working in, both the community and the governmental agencies?
In your opinion, Mr. Harrell, what factors make a successful and high-quality substance use disorder residential treatment program?
uh the planning i think the number one thing is is the planning uh not only a planning of the
physical plan of the program which is probably becomes one of the easiest uh most expensive but
one of the easiest things to do it's the um the the experience of the program and their plan to
how they will implement that program and what the steps that they're going to take to get that
that program up and running and keep it running over a longer period of time.
So in your opinion, what factors would make a low performing and substance use disorder
residential treatment program? Pretty much the lack of planning, the lack of planning,
the lack of, and one of the biggest things would be the expertise of the management team,
the clinical team, and the experience that they have in doing such an opening such program.
In your experience, extensive experience in this area, are there negative impacts on the surrounding community that are associated with low-performing residential treatment programs?
Well, the potential, which is pretty high, is that when the program is not successful, it affects not only the financial, but also the clinical programming that goes on within.
Because if you don't have the expertise to run a good program and then you don't have the money to do it, you can make a lot of mistakes and then that flows out into the community.
like any other business um it's not you know drug and alcohol is is not any different than if you had a
You know, drug and alcohol is not any different than if you had a poorly run hairdresser in your neighborhood.
You know what I mean? People waiting outside. It's almost, I don't want to say that it's inevitable, but it's inevitable that if it's not well run, it's going to have impacts on the neighborhood.
And it's sad because programs that are managed properly, okay, usually have a positive impact on the neighborhood, usually improve a neighborhood.
We've had, in many of our zoning hearings, we've had people come to the zoning hearing who live in the neighborhoods where we operate to talk about how we operate.