BERLIN – Plans for a recovery house in Worcester County are moving ahead following approval from Town of Berlin officials.
On Wednesday, the Berlin Board of Zoning Appeals was set to hear a request that would have allowed Hope4Recovery Inc. to establish a recovery house at the property currently home to the Shirley Grace Pregnancy Center, which is located in the town’s B-1 zoning district. At the start of the meeting, however, officials explained that Town Attorney Dave Gaskill had determined it was not required because boarding houses were permitted in the B-1 district. He said the proposed recovery house could be considered a boarding house because it had fewer than six bedrooms and was not for transients.
“Therefore it is my opinion that the proposal is a principal permitted use in the B-1 zone and a hearing on this matter is not necessary,” Gaskill said.
As more than a dozen people in attendance at Wednesday’s hearing to support the proposed recovery house filed out of town hall, Tish Ottey, executive director of Hope4Recovery, said she was looking forward to moving ahead with the project.
“We are going to work with the city to find out what the process is from here,” she said.
Initially, Hope4Recovery, whose connections established the Douglas K. Hamilton House for Recovery in Salisbury last year, proposed purchasing a house on William Street to convert into a sober living facility. Community members, however, objected to the fact that the property abutted Berlin Intermediate School.
“The contention was the school,” Ottey said. “That was really all that we heard.”
Because of the concern, the nonprofit abandoned its plan to purchase the William Street home in March. In the ensuing months, Ottey learned through word of mouth that the property at 10226 Old Ocean City Blvd. was available. She said the location was ideal, as it was across the street from Atlantic General Hospital and within walking distance of food stores, potential places of employment and transportation. She said she was grateful for the support of the hospital, the Worcester County Health Department and attorney Hugh Cropper, who represented the nonprofit at Wednesday’s meeting.
As plans for the recovery house move ahead, Ottey said Hope4Recovery would work to educate the public about the facility.
“Our intent is to have an open house for anybody who wants to learn about what we’re doing,” she said.
Now that the recovery house has the town’s approval to move forward, the Shirley Grace Pregnancy Center will be forced to relocate. Geoff Failla, chairman of the center’s board, said the organization would have 90 days to move out. Those at the pregnancy center knew nothing of the proposed recovery house until Monday.
“We were completely taken by surprise,” he said.
Though the organization’s lease was set to expire at the end of the month, pregnancy center staff had expected to simply renew the lease. In spite of the abrupt change of plans, Failla says supporters are committed to ensuring the pregnancy center maintains a local presence.
“There’s a need in the community for the services we provide,” he said. “We feel we have an obligation to the community to relocate.”
Ideally, he said the center would stay in Berlin, near its current location. Ultimately, the group would like to purchase a building.
“We’d like to expand the services we offer,” he said.
Failla said that while he was sorry to see the pregnancy center leave its home of several years a recovery house would benefit the community.
“We don’t want to move but we understand and agree there’s a need in the community,” he said.
