Addiction Recovery Center Given the Green Light to Continue Operations Despite Land Use Contradictions

BRADENTON — Commissioners listened to heartfelt testimonies during a land use public hearing on Thursday that concluded with board approval for an addiction recovery facility to continue operating within a residential neighborhood in Oneco. Public testimony from both sides of the debate extended hours, and the county commissioner whose district the facility is located in found legal sufficiency to oppose the nonconforming-use approval.

The Crossings facility formerly operated under previous owners as a senior care facility known as The Cottages. The 6.6-acre site is located in a residential zoning district south of 53rd Avenue East and a block west of US 301 at the end of 24th Street East. The only entrance to the 90-bed, 36,449-square-foot facility is a dead-end street lined with roughly 200 single-family homes. 

In 1986, a special permit was issued to the Manatee Glens Corporation to construct and operate a residential care facility. The facility was approved to operate as residential care for senior citizens who suffered from mental health conditions such as Alzheimer's disease and dementia.

In 1997, the property underwent a rezone to planned development residential. At that time, an addition was added to the facility, which brought the total number of structures on the site to six and increased the bed capacity from 64 to 90.

That same year, the property changed ownership from the Manatee Glens Corporation to the Presbyterian Retirement Communities Inc., and the new owner began operating the site as a more broad-based assisted living facility (ALF).

From 1997 through 2022, the site operated under various ownerships as an ALF known as “The Cottages” before ultimately being ordered to cease operations by the Florida Agency of Health Care Administration.

The property fell into foreclosure before being purchased by its current owner—Miami-based CNP XX Ventures LLC—in 2023. The site was then reopened as an addiction recovery and treatment facility known as The Crossings.

Over the decades since the 1986 special use permit was issued, Manatee County’s Land Development Code (LDC) and relevant definitions have changed. As the facility operates today, it is deemed “nonconforming” under LDC Section 531.46A, which states: “Any residential treatment facility located within a residential zoning district shall be located upon a roadway designated as collector or higher…”

Vowell said that it was largely due to the recovery program and support from The Crossings' Executive Director Jim Rouches that he could get his life back on track, open his own business, and start a family. 

Keith McCarty told commissioners that as a lifelong resident of Oneco, he, too, turned to The Crossings for help.

“Before I came to The Crossings,” McCarty said, “I was hanging out in homeless camps… I spent time living in the woods… I was in and out of jail for many years, but God put me in The Crossings and gave me another chance. It completely turned my life around.”   

Vowell and McCarty’s testimonies echoed similar testimonies given before commissioners on Thursday, as well as testimonies in support of The Crossings’ program before the county’s planning commission in January.

The nearly dozen citizens who addressed the planning commission also provided moving personal testimony of how entering Rouches’ program—or a similar recovery program—led to long-term sobriety and the significant betterment of their lives.

But many residents of the neighborhood shared equally as moving testimony, telling of how the facility’s change from a residential treatment facility for seniors to a live-in residential treatment facility for addiction had negatively impacted their neighborhood and lives.

Nearly all of the residents who spoke in opposition to the approval stated that they supported recovery programs and recognized their value and importance but disagreed that the site location was compatible or in keeping with county regulations.

Dee Papaioannou told commissioners that when she purchased her home in 1998, the senior assisted living facility was in operation. Papaioannou said she had no problem with such a facility operating in proximity to the home she purchased; however, she said that had the site been operating as an addiction program, she would not have purchased the home. 

Margi Nanney told commissioners that she has been a resident of the neighborhood since 1985. Nanney said she is an active member of a grassroots neighborhood preservation group, the “Citizens for Historic Oneco,” before she spoke of the changes residents have witnessed since The Crossing began its operations.

According to Nanney, the neighborhood has seen increased transient foot traffic and even criminal incidents. She testified that a bicycle was stolen from her home, something that she said she never experienced in the more than 30 years she had been a resident there. 

“We hear that the Cottages (The Crossings) is a jail diversion program,” explained Nanney. “We don’t know what crimes the individuals are accused of committing, but they are permitted to come in and out. How would you feel having this next to your home?” she asked the commissioners. 

Public records obtained from the Manatee County Sheriff's Department showed more than 60 dispatched calls to the facility’s address between 2022 and 2024. Nanney submitted the records as evidence and they were attached to Thursday’s meeting agenda. The list included calls for overdose, violent persons, larceny, assault, and theft, among other recorded incidents. 

A young woman named Anna Joli McElroy testified that she grew up on 24th Street East, about 400 feet from the site. McElroy stated she was a third-generation neighborhood resident and that the neighborhood was not the same quiet neighborhood she had known growing up.

“I want to stay here and raise my own children here someday, but sadly, I can not safely give them the same freedom I was given growing up in this neighborhood,” she said.

According to McElroy, she had personally experienced “uncomfortable situations” with persons she believed were on her street because of the treatment facility. In closing her remarks, McElroy encouraged commissioners to consider “bringing back” an elderly assisted living facility to the site instead of approving the site for use as an addiction recovery center. 

Dedra Maugherman recalled for commissioners what the neighborhood was like when the senior assisted living facility was operating at the site. Maugherman said the previous facility organized neighborhood events like trick-or-treating or Easter egg hunts.

“The worst thing those residents ever did was wander away due to dementia or Alzheimer's and we would walk them back,” she explained.

According to Maugherman, she and other residents have personally witnessed persons associated with The Crossings actively using drugs out in the open on the once quiet street. She also described the increased transient traffic she said was brought by The Crossings, including residents of the program cutting through neighbors’ yards.

Maugherman, McElroy, and Nanney’s testimonies were similar to those shared by several other residents who addressed commissioners in opposition to approval. Many testified that they, too, had witnessed an increase in unknown persons loitering on their street, increased noise and traffic, with some stating that Crossings clients had even knocked on their doors requesting to do odd jobs for pay.

A petition signed by more than 260 area residents was also submitted into the record. All of the signatures were in opposition to approval.

Applicant Rebuttal

Based on some of the testimony given, representatives of The Crossings assured commissioners that the facility was not solely to blame for the increase in foot traffic as reported by residents.

According to The Crossings, nearby homeless camps had been identified and removed by local authorities—camps not located on the facility's property. In addition, a Salvation Army site is just a half mile away from the neighborhood. 

When residents attended a community meeting held by The Crossings and informed the facility operators of their clients allegedly going door-to-door seeking work, the matter was reportedly addressed by staff, and clients were instructed not to approach neighbors’ homes.

A representative of the Crossings’ stated that it was believed those were isolated incidents following last summer’s hurricanes when facility clients were offering their services for storm cleanup.

Commissioner Deliberations

Opening the deliberations was Commissioner Jason Bearden, who spoke of his knowledge of local statistics concerning drug abuse and overdose rates.

“We need as much help as we can get in this county,” Bearden argued in favor of approval. “I’ve seen the actual numbers of people affected by this issue in this county, and it's significant.”

“If we choose to vote another way on this, we are not just shutting down a facility… we are turning our backs on people who are in desperate need of help,” he added.

Acknowledging the concerns of residents, Bearden sought assurances from representatives of the facility that those concerns would be taken seriously.

However, Commissioner Amanda Ballard was firm in her position that the request should be denied.

Ballard is the county's District 2 commissioner serving in the seat which represents the area of the county where the facility is operating. 

In her statement before the vote, Ballard shared her personal and professional experiences with addiction and her belief in the importance of recovery programs.

She stated that not only had she spent her career as a child welfare attorney working with families with addiction problems before being elected to the BOCC, but she also had personal experience with those struggles through family relationships. 

“I know it, I understand it, I care about the issue, and I care about people who are suffering from addiction very, very much. With that being said,” Ballard emphasized, “drug treatment and homeless services were never contemplated at this site.” 

Reading from the 1986 special permit, Ballard quoted that it was “a residential treatment facility for emotionally handicapped elderly persons.” 

“This limited the residential treatment facility's use from the very start,” she concluded. 

Reading from the 1997 planner packet, Ballard described how the change in use went from a specified residential treatment facility for elderly people with mental health problems to a more generalized senior assisted living “group home” or assisted living facility.  

Ballard highlighted that the historical use approvals for the site never included its use as an alcohol or drug abuse treatment facility. 

Ballard said that she felt the residents who expressed concerns were “being gaslighted” by being told the negative impacts to their neighborhood that they attributed to the drug treatment facility were “not happening.” 

“Or that, somehow, what they have lived with for 30 years and then a sudden severe change that occurred within the last year, is not due to this facility. It just strains the limits of reason,” said Ballard. 

“There are about 200 homes in the neighborhood,” she continued. “There is one way in and one way out. Before this facility, people who didn’t live in the neighborhood had no reason to come in.” 

Ballard then asked her fellow commissioners to imagine if a similar situation arose within Heritage Harbor, Whitfield Estates, or Parrish—if a senior assisted living facility was turned into drug rehab for people involved in the criminal justice system without proper approval, process or recourse for neighborhood residents—if that facility would be allowed to continue operating in those locations.  

“Are we looking at the hard-working residents of Oneco and saying, ‘You don’t matter because you live in Oneco?” she asked. 

District 2 is the lowest-income district in the county, and commissioners have historically complained that it receives less prioritization and less deference is given to the district's commissioner on issues within its borders.

“I believe in recovery programs,” Ballard stressed. “I’m passionate about getting people into recovery. But it has to be in a place that makes sense, and it has to fit the comprehensive plan and land development code.” 

To listen to Ballard’s comments in their entirety, click here. 

Despite delivering a detailed argument in support of a denial, Ballard was unable to sway the board toward deference for her position as the representative of District 2.

Commissioner George Kruse gave closing remarks stating that he “could not refute” any of the points raised Bearden.

“I truly appreciate what you’re saying,” Kruse said, addressing Ballard. “You’re passionate, and it’s your district… there’s a lot of things we need in this community, and at some point, they have to go someplace.”

Without any other commissioner comments, the matter was put to a vote and carried 5-1, with Commissioner Ballard voting in opposition and Commissioner Tal Siddique absent.