Is a drug and alcohol rehab facility a good fit for Bayshore? More than 100 residents say “no” during special HOA meeting Wednesday

 

By GARRET JAROS/YachatsNews

BAYSHORE – A Colorado company considering buying the Alsi Resort and transforming it into a drug rehabilitation facility ran into a united wall of “not in our backyard” during a special meeting of the Bayshore Homeowners Association Wednesday evening.

If the missing welcome mat left any doubt how the standing-room only crowd felt about having Sunshine Behavioral Health as a neighbor – the earful the two company representatives received did not.

More than 100 Bayshore residents packed the meeting, which began with the board highlighting the association’s guidelines for determining whether a rehabilitation center is an acceptable commercial use, and addressing concerns it had received via email from members before the meeting.

Although the Alsi Resort and the 11 lots it occupies were annexed into Waldport in 2011 at the request of its former owners, the homeowners association’s board has final say on what commercial use is allowed based on its covenants and restrictions. Bayshore cannot however, discriminate or restrict who buys property in the community.

After the introduction by the eight-member board whether Sunshine would be allowed to operate a facility if the company were to purchase the property, Sunshine’s director of development Jeremy Woods gave a power-point presentation.

While Club Med-like lodgings of Sunshine’s high-end rehabilitation centers aimed at clients who pay with private insurance or cash appeared on a large TV monitor, Woods explained the company caters to business owners and other professionals, including athletes.

Sunshine began operations nine years ago in San Juan Capistrano, Calif. and now owns three hotels and multiple homes it transformed into rehab centers in California, Colorado, Texas and Illinois.

The last known listing price for Alsi Resort, which appeared online in June but has since been removed, was $6 million. The property was purchased by Mony and Dee Mansano of Las Vegas in 2021 for $2.4 million. The motel was built in 1969 and has struggled financially for decades.

“This is a major investment for us,” Woods said. “We want to make sure you’re a good fit for us and we’re a good fit for you.”

He was met with shouts of “No!” and “You’re not!”

Sunshine is proposing a 70- to 75-bed campus-style facility where the average stay of the voluntary patients in the latter stage of rehabilitation is 30 days.

If it buys the motel, Woods said the company would invest $4 million in upgrades and beautification, which would include an indoor swimming pool. The facility would have its own chefs and medical facilities and would be a closed campus – meaning clients would not be walking the neighborhood unattended. To appease concerns expressed by Bayshore homeowners, Woods said they would employ a security guard – something it does not do at its other facilities.

Sunshine clients are vetted via criminal background checks to exclude anyone with violent criminal offenses, Woods said. And while clients working through fentanyl addiction would be accepted, methadone is not allowed.

The facility would employ about 50 people, but would see no more than 20 people coming and going during shift changes, and food truck deliveries would arrive at 4 a.m. about every four days, resulting in an overall impact that amounts to a “small footprint” in the community, Woods said.

HOA members unimpressed

Homeowners were not appeased by the pitch and several times shouted rejoinders while Woods and board members spoke, resulting in a reprimand by board president Mike Vest to be respectful or he would end the meeting.

There are 1,017 lots in Bayshore and 1,015 dues-paying HOA members. There are an estimated 250-300 vacant lots and houses are a mix of permanent homes, second homes and vacation rentals.

It was more than an hour into the 2½-hour meeting before association members were given a chance to express their opinions or ask questions, which at least 30 did in person and through a video link.

But first, board vice president Kenn Apel addressed the group.

“Mike received lots of emails expressing concerns or questions and from what I can tell we have touched on most of those,” Apel said. “I don’t know whether there are any questions that have not been touched on.”

What had been touched upon was the perceived negative impact a rehab facility would have on property values, but any definitive affect on home values remained speculative; concerns about lack of housing in the region for Sunshine employees; pre-existing septic problems at the Alsi Resort and in Bayshore; minimal medical infrastructure and emergency response capabilities in Lincoln County; and, neighborhood security.

While most of the attendees who followed with questions and comments did revisit or expand upon subjects already mentioned, a few brought other insights.

“I’ve worked in drug and alcohol and mental health recovery for 15 years, including high-end facilities exactly like the one that Sunshine is proposing in our neighborhood,” said one Zoom attendee who described himself as someone building a retirement home in Bayshore and who has family in the community. “I want to make a few points. They say it’s not a lockdown facility, people can come and go and everybody is voluntary there, but the fact is that there are going to be many people who are there under coercion from family, friends and or the judicial system to avoid consequences from their drinking and doing drugs.”

That would include people attempting to put a positive face on upcoming criminal trials, he continued, and patients with both drug/alcohol problems and mental health issues could be less stable.

“I just want everybody to think about, these people are going to be our neighbors, so is this something you really want to bring into our neighborhood?” he said. “Is this the type of neighbors you would want for your kids and family?”

Another HOA member joked that he was not worried about Brett Favre, Hunter Biden or Charlie Sheen being at the center before asking what the worst Sunshine has experienced from its patients? Woods replied that a verbal altercation was the worst he had seen in his two years running one of the facilities.

Only one person who spoke expressed anything but distaste at having a rehab facility in the community.

Near the end of the meeting, board member Roger Smith asked Woods whether Bayshore felt like a good fit for Sunshine.

“Seventy-seven inches of rain a year!” an audience member shouted to big laughs before Woods simply thanked everyone for attending and that he appreciated the feedback and passion of the community.

What’s next?

Vest said Thursday that he first heard about Sunshine’s interest in buying the property on July 17 from the real estate listing agent.

“I told him what they would need to provide the HOA and then Sunshine sent their response July 19,” Vest said. “And that is when a special meeting was set up and the information was distributed to the membership.”

After learning from Waldport officials that there are no city zoning ordinances prohibiting a rehabilitation facility at the location and that — with HOA approval — Woods expressed interest in moving forward in a July 19 email to city manager Dann Cutter.

“I think we are getting close to making an offer on the Alsi hotel,” Woods wrote, later adding, “I will say after looking into getting licensed to operate will be a task, but we do meet all the requirements listed by human services. If that was all you were referring to, then we feel comfortable with submitting an offer.”

While Sunshine can move forward to purchase the property, it has no way of knowing whether the HOA board will allow it to be used as a rehab facility.

“We can’t make a determination at this time because we haven’t had a formal proposal submitted yet,” Vest told YachatsNews. “In our C&Rs (covenants and restrictions) there’s a list of information they need to provide so that we can make a determination, and at this stage I think it’s too early for them to provide that information.

“I can’t speak for Sunshine, but I think that was their goal last night to kind of see if this would be an approved use,” Vest continued. “In our guidelines for determination, our first requirement is ‘Will it benefit the residents of all seven divisions of Bayshore.’ And that would be on Sunshine to show that this would provide a benefit.”

Despite so many members voicing opposition, the ultimate decision by the board will be based on what is outlined in the association’s covenants and restrictions, Vest said.

“But I think our C&Rs give us a lot of latitude because any commercial use would have to be approved by the HOA,” he said. “The last thing I heard from (Woods) when they were leaving was ‘We’ll be in touch.’ At this point in time there’s nothing for Bayshore to do until we have something submitted in front of us that we can evaluate.”

• Garret Jaros is YachatsNews’ full-time reporter and can be reached at GJaros@YachatsNews.com