Despite previous assurances to the public that a decision would be made during a special Whitefield Planning Board meeting the evening of Wednesday, May 1, residents did not hear a resolution on a proposed residential substance abuse treatment facility in Coopers Mills.
Nearly a dozen attendees filed into the central fire station in Whitefield to hear the planning board’s discussion on a change of use application for the building previously known as Country Manor Nursing Home, at 132 Main St. in Coopers Mills.
The board spent nearly three hours completing a thorough review of the town’s building development ordinance and discussing if the change in use application complies with the ordinance.
“I’m at a point that the best way I can explain to everyone … We have spent a lot of time cutting bait. It’s now time for the board to fish. And, so, absent anything new, that’s what’s going to happen,” said planning board Chair Glenn Angell. “I admit that this is an issue that has strong feelings and some contention associated with it … Our job is to deal with what people in the town of Whitefield have told us we need to do through the ordinances they’ve enacted, and that’s what we’re going forward to do.”
Angell said at the board’s regular meeting on April 17 that members would need to cast their votes on the change in use application at the board’s special meeting on May 1. However, the board instead ended the May 1 meeting by scheduling a site visit to the facility at 132 Main St.
Planning board member Mary Morgan requested a site visit after voicing concerns about the site plan that the town has for the facility.
The original site plan the board has been referring to in discussions dates back to the late 1980s. Morgan said she felt she could not vote on the application without certainty that the site plan in the town’s possession aligns with the current state of the site.
Angell said the site visit will ensure that each board member has as much knowledge as possible about the site to make a comfortable decision regarding the change of use application.
“If the board deems it needs to have a site visit, the board deems it’s going to have a site visit … They’re doing their business,” said Angell.
The board will visit the facility on Monday, May 13 at 3:45 p.m. Members of the public can attend, but are not allowed to comment or ask questions of the applicant unless they are allowed by Angell to do so.
According to the town’s ordinance, the board is required to make a decision on an application by 35 days after a public hearing is held. The public hearing for Harmony Haven LLC’s application took place on April 10. According to Angell, 35 days after the public hearing is the board’s next monthly meeting, May 15.
Harmony Haven LLC co-investor and Holistic Sober Center Executive Director Kristina Simpson submitted a change of use application for the facility on March 10, but the proposed use for the facility first came onto residents’ radars in April 2023.
Simpson went before the Whitefield Planning Board in April 2023 to briefly discuss her plan for the building. The Country Manor Nursing Home shut down in September 2021.
Simpson said she plans to open the nearly 17,000-square-foot building at 132 Main St. as Holistic Sober Center, a 54-bed coed facility for individuals who are seeking a treatment plan post-detoxification from addictive substances, such as drugs and alcohol. The clientele for the center will is 18- to 65-year-old men and women who have recently gone through detoxification.
The majority of residents will be referred to the program by hospitals and the Maine Department of Health and Human Services, according to Simpson.
The owner of the center is Harmony Haven, LLC, a company owned by Simpson and her business partner, Kenneth Raye, who currently resides in Florida.
Simpson said her intent is to maintain the current size of the building, having no plans to expand on the land in the future.
The next regular meeting of the Whitefield Planning Board is Wednesday, May 15 at 6 p.m. at the central fire station. To remain in compliance with the town’s ordinance, the board must issue a vote on Harmony Haven LLC’s change of use application at this meeting.
For more information about the Holistic Sober Center, email kristina@holisticsobercenter.com.
Harmony Haven LLC’s application can be viewed at the town office, at 36 Townhouse Road. The town office is open Monday and Tuesday from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m., Thursday from 7 a.m. to noon and 3-7 p.m., and Friday from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. To contact the town office, call 549-5175 or email townwhitefieldadm@gmail.com.
