BSCL Minutes
August 27, 1996 Special Meeting
Demeter House proposal for a very large group house.
A special meeting of the Barcroft School and Civic League was
held at the Barcroft Elementary School on Tuesday, August 27,
1996 at 7:00 p.m. to address the proposal by Demeter House to
relocate their group home to 4317 S. 6th St.
President Jim Kerr opened the meeting and introduced Mitch Dale
who explained the legal standards needed to allow Demeter House.
It is a conditional use requiring a use permit from the county.
The request goes to the Planning Commission on Sept. 24th, and
the County Board on October 7th.
Debbie Voltz - President of Vanguard Services since 1989.
Vanguard has been in business in Arlington since 1962 and owns
Demeter House. Vanguard runs several facilities in Arlington and
several other locations. Demeter House is a service for formally
addicted mothers and their children. The residents are off drugs
and/or alcohol when they enter Demeter House. Some of the
requirements for acceptance are: the women must be 18 years or
older they must be mothers, they are not accepted from the
street, but from a treatment program or hospital, they must show
a motivation to get well, they must be willing to seek
employment. 58% of those accepted have previous court
involvement. Murders and arsonists are not accepted. The goals
for the women of Demeter House are to keep drug free, to learn
how to parent, keep out of trouble with the law, become employed,
and find safe housing when they leave Demeter. The average stay
is 6 months. The average age of children living at Demeter is 2
1/2 years old. Only one child is allowed to live with the mother
while she is at Demeter. Visitors are not allowed at the House.
There is an off-site location where visitation is allowed. The
total number of residents that would be living at 4317 S. 6th St.
would be 22. The maximum number of cars that would need to park
at any one time would be 8.
Scott Brinitzer presented a plan for improvements to the property
that would help obscure parked cars and a possible trash dumpster
on the property. Also included were plans to allow for the
privacy for the residents and the surrounding homes.
Rocco Saracina is a resident of S. 6th St. who presented reasons
why many of the residents are opposed to the Vanguard proposal.
Some of their concerns were: increase in traffic flow, declining
property values, too many people housed in what was intended to
be a single family home, a change is the character and pace of
the surrounding area.
Kevin Appel of Vanguard responded to some of the concerns voiced
by Mr. Saracina.
Mark Wigfield then collected questions written down by BSCL
members regarding the proposal. Most questions were answered by
employees of Demeter House.
MOTION - To stop debate and vote on the issue. PASSED
MOTION - To oppose Demeter House proposal as it is currently
stated (Saracina) PASSED. (overwhelmingly)
MOTION - For Rocco Saracina to present the BSCL position to the
Planning Committee (Swart) PASSED
The special meeting adjourned at 9:05 p.m.
Respectfully Submitted,
Lisa Palance
Recording Secretary
This page was last revised on: September 15, 2000.
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