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Parkersburg moratorium won’t affect new sober-living facility

PARKERSBURG — Even if Parkersburg City Council approves the final reading of an ordinance setting a moratorium on new residential recovery facilities, it won’t stop the opening of a planned sober-living facility on Fairview Avenue.

During the July 13 meeting, when the first reading of the moratorium passed on a 6-1 vote with two council members absent, concerns were voiced over sober living houses being set up in residential neighborhoods

One of these is apparently Oxford House Worthington, listed on the website of recovery housing organization Oxford House as being on Fairview Avenue, with a charter date of Aug. 1. It will have a capacity for eight residents, all male.

If passed tonight on final reading with no significant amendments, the moratorium would not apply to that location, according to Parkersburg City Attorney Blaine Myers.

“Because they took those steps prior to the moratorium, I don’t think we would be in a position to stop them from going forward,” he said.

Supporters of the moratorium say it is needed to give the West Virginia Legislature a chance to adjust state law as the number of recovery facilities have rapidly grown in certain areas. Parkersburg went from 30 state-licensed residential treatment beds in 2017 to 283 earlier this year, approaching 20 percent of the total number in the state.

Some city officials say this has led to an influx of out-of-town and out-of-state individuals in treatment and an increase in the local homeless population and related criminal activity.

The ACLU of West Virginia sent a letter to city officials saying the moratorium would violate federal laws and the equal protection clause of the 14th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. Some people at the July 13 meeting said a halt on new sober-living spaces would be particularly detrimental as there are fewer of them than there are treatment beds.

Oxford House Inc. is a nonprofit organization that supports a network of self-run, drug-free homes for eight to 15 individuals. The residents pay all expenses to maintain the individual houses, which are rented, not purchased, in “good neighborhoods,” according to www.oxfordhouse.org.

The Fairview location would be the second Oxford House in Parkersburg and the 38th in West Virginia. Oxford House Argon was chartered on May 1 and has a total occupancy of seven men. Oxford House Arrow on 10th Street in Vienna has a total occupancy of nine men and a charter date of April 7.

Aaron Parsons lives near the Fairview site. He said he fully supports drug abuse rehabilitation and treatment but questions the location since it’s very close to Parkersburg Catholic High School and Hamilton Middle and Emerson Elementary schools aren’t far away.

“(People in recovery) desperately need help,” he said. “But I don’t think that’s the way they should go.”

Parkersburg Catholic Principal M.C. Heffner declined to comment.

Parsons said it doesn’t seem like a single-family residence should able to be converted to a multi-unit living space under building code regulations. But because addiction is classified as a disability, recovery facilities are exempt from state and local zoning regulations.

“I have a problem with me losing the value of my house that I was going to sell,” neighborhood resident Jeff Taylor said.

The West Virginia Alliance of Recovery Residences reviews policies and standards for recovery housing to make sure they align with best practices and standards set by the National Alliance of Recovery Residences. Any sober-living program that receives state funding or accepts people referred by state-funded agencies must be certified by the organization, said Autumn McCraw, certification reviewer for WVARR.

That includes being responsive to neighbor concerns and having courtesy rules. Concern over home values decreasing “is just a myth that is fueled by … misconceptions about what recovery housing actually is and the function that it actually has,” McCraw said.

Taylor said he’s seen claims on the Oxford House website that their presence actually improves home values, but he is skeptical.

“If these are such great homes, why has Oxford not sent a representative in to talk to neighbors and try to calm them down?” he said.

A message seeking comment from Oxford House Inc. was not returned by deadline.

The identity of the individual or entity purchasing the house was not immediately available.

Evan Bevins can be reached at ebevins@newsandsentinel.com.

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