SKOWHEGAN — A plan to move Kennebec Behavioral Health offices and daytime outpatient care to a house on Water Street was approved unanimously by the staff review committee of the Planning Board, even though it drew opposition from an abutter Wednesday who said his quality of life will be destroyed by 60 to 75 mental health patients visiting the center daily.

Mark Bourgeois, who lives on Cardinal Avenue, said patients, some of them on foot, also could be a potential threat to nearby Margaret Chase Smith Elementary School, while taking $5,000 off the tax rolls because the organization is nonprofit.

“Who wants to have their daughter sunbathing in the backyard with six to eight people walking by every day?” Bourgeois told the committee. “That doesn’t include the stigma damage of that development being a behavior health center. This will change the fabric of the community.”

The committee voted 4-0 to approve the plan (the chairman only votes in the case of a tie) — with some stipulations — to convert the home at 400 Water St. to offices of Kennebec Behavioral Health.

Stipulations include a stockade fence at the property line, improvements to lighting in the parking lot and signs for a crosswalk on Water Street and a one-way sign on connecting Heselton Street, where the school is.

Before the vote, committee Chairman Chris Huck also read an email from former Planning Board member Steve Govoni who said advance notice of Wednesday’s meeting did not include details on who the clientele of the proposed offices and clinic would be.

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“I am a concerned citizen because this proposal puts drug addicts and sex offenders within 50 feet of an elementary school,” Govoni wrote.

Huck said later that the distance to the school is probably 500 feet, not 50.

Bourgeois, who lives with his partner Jennifer Olsen, executive director of Main Street Skowhegan, told the committee the plan does not conform with the town’s comprehensive growth plan.

An appeal filed by Bourgeois or anyone else would bring the matter before the Planning Board, which has the option, but not an obligation, to call a public hearing on the issue, Huck said

Sitting as the committee Wednesday were Huck, Police Chief Michael Emmons, Fire Chief Tom Keene, Code Enforcement Officer Randy Gray and Economic Development Director Jeff Hewett.

Waterville-based Kennebec Behavioral Health is a nonprofit mental health and substance abuse treatment agency offering clinical and counseling services at 14 locations in Augusta, Waterville and Skowhegan. It operates on a $22 million annual budget and serves 12,000 people annually, according to its web site.

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Income is generated from private insurance companies, self-paying patients, Medicaid and Medicare, contributions, foundation grants, and state grants. In response to the high demand for services from people who lack or have minimal insurance, the agency provides more than $800,000 in financial assistance on an annual basis, according to the organization’s website.

The plan to convert the property from residential to commercial use was presented Wednesday by Jim Coffin of E.S. Coffin Engineering & Surveying. He was joined by Tom McAdam, chief executive officer of Kennebec Behavioral Health. Property owners Dale and Sylvia Thistle also were present.

McAdam objected to the portrayal of behavioral health consumers as people who are not wanted in the community. He said patients are Skowhegan residents — neighbors, family members and friends. He said twenty-five percent of all communities have people with mental health problems.

“It’s inaccurate to say the people are somehow broken people,” he said.

McAdam added that the center would not be a residential, transitional or independent housing facility, such as other locations in Skowhegan. He said Wednesday’s vote was not entirely a victory.

“While we’re in the process of providing services, if we create rancor in the process … I think we need to do some more work making sure the neighbors are comfortable,” he said.

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Emmons said the police department got 10 calls to the center at it’s current location on High Street in the last year, with some of the people being taken into protective custody. He said the department is equipped to initiate a lockdown at the school if it became necessary.

The committee heard from directors of the water and pollution control departments, the fire and police departments and the road commissioner who all said the plan conforms to municipal demands.

Doug Harlow — 612-2367

dharlow@centralmaine.com

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