VERO BEACH, Fla. — WPTV is digging into plans for a new women’s sober home in Vero Beach.
The Indian River County Hospital District told WPTV’s Tyler Hatfield they purchased a site off 10th Street. It’s right across the street from Kelley Sunderland's mother’s home.
Sunderland said they’re not thrilled.
“It just kind of stinks that that's what they chose to put there,” said Sunderland.
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The property was the home for the Children’s Home Society, a transitional living facility for foster kids. An experience, Sunderland said, that was full of issues.
“It was constant police and fire trucks and all in and out all the time. So we're just a little worried that that same kind of issue is going to happen," she said.
The property is an RM-10 multiple family residential zone, which means the owners can't use it for medical or health care services.
That's what the county's planning and development department told the Indian River County Hospital District in a zoning verification letter, responding to their zoning verification application.
It read: "The use will be considered residential and not a treatment facility."
Frank Isele, executive director of Indian River County Hospital District, said there will be no medical services at the site.
“There's no psychiatric care, there's no medication, medication-assisted treatment there,” said Isele. “It's not zoned for medical service delivery. “
Isele said the women’s sober home will be housed in two buildings and provide transitional acute recovery services for a maximum 30 women, offering drug testing, counseling and other supportive services.
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“They will work, they will have to get jobs, they will be paying rent to get on their feet,” said Isele. “They'll reside there anywhere from a few weeks to several months.”
Isele said they purchased the property for $3.8 million.
"We want to be certain that the recovery residence that we're going to open is going to be held to the highest standards operationally,” said Isele.
Isele told WPTV it will join only two other Florida Association of Recovery Services-certified women's recovery residences in the county.
While Sunderland understands the importance of a facility like this, she just doesn’t want it across the street.
“We understand that they need help,” said Sunderland. “It's just the area is maybe inconvenient.”
