Mendenhall Estates Group Homes

As a resident of Lehi, I believe one of our primary responsibilities is to ensure the safety of our children. I’m worried this type of facility doesn’t protect them as well as we should. A year ago I had two children living in my home so that their mom could go to rehab. Instead, she ended up leaving rehab where she was soon arrested by the police for drug possession, theft, trespassing, and stolen ID’s. I know this is one example but it highlights a situation that is especially dangerous when in a residential area. I love that I live in an area where I feel safe to let my kids play outside. It benefits their mental, social, and physical health. I also recognize the need for facilities to help out our addicted populations. I’m proud to report that the two kids who were in my home are now reunited with their mom who is now several months clean! It’s been a huge blessing. That being said, building these faculties in a commercial area is a much better idea. It protects neighborhoods as well as gets people the help they need.
My ultimate questions is how do we ensure the safety of our children if this is built where they play? Would the owners be willing to live next door if it were their kids?
Thank you for your attention.

I oppose this high concentration of group homes and feel the traffic will increase far too high. I believe family homes would be far better for our neighborhood. I feel this was in their plans all along and was not firth coming up front. I also feel there will be unintended consequences from approving this.

As a relative of someone who struggles with drug abuse/alcoholism, I am opposed to this treatment campus. Here are my concerns.

1) the size of the rehabilitation campus. It’s 10 group homes together. This would make the largest complex in Utah. This is something that goes against the standard care of patients as they become a community within a community instead of learning to become part of a “normal” community.

2) the access to public transportation. Yes the developers have noted there will be rideshares and increases to the traffic around the neighborhood. As the patients gain independence, they need to learn to function again. They need to be close enough to public transportation to help gain their independence and reconnect with society. The closest bus stop is over 2 miles away on State Street. There are no busses on Main Street or Pioneer Crossing which are the closest main roads. The access to even sidewalks in the area are sparse.

3) the railroad tracks. This is a huge red flag to me about the development. The trains create noise. Noises bother many people in recovery. To put them in a place where the trains go past their back yards every 15 minutes during rush hour, I worry about how the noise will affect those recovering. If you know me, you know that I am passionate about suicide prevention. Drug addicts and alcoholics are between 10 and 14 times more likely to commit suicide. They are even more likely to commit suicide if they have easy access to a means. I believe that putting people that have a higher suicide rate next to railroad tracks is giving them the easy access to a way to commit suicide. I think it is irresponsible for I am Recovery to have their groups homes in that area.

As you can see, there are too many concerns to give a “thumbs up” to 10 housing exemptions.

I am opposed to the Drug Treatment Campus proposed to be built by Forum Builders and I Am Recovery in the Mendenhall Estates subdivision. I believe that the size and scope of this project far exceeds the common definition of “group home”. It is my opinion that the builders are trying to work around state and local laws that regulate residential treatment and assisted living facilities. The Lehi City General Plan specifically addresses the negative outcomes of segregated housing, acknowledging that this can lead to “areas of higher crime, poverty, and other challenges” (p. 78). I do not believe that crowding ten sober living houses into such a small area would benefit anyone involved. By my understanding, the entire point of a Sober Living Home is to provide support to the clients while at the same time helping them to integrate back into society. I Am Recovery is a relatively new business and currently only operates two facilities, neither of which are of this size and scope. This proposed project is experimental in nature and if the Planning Commission approves this project to move forward it will set a precedent for other Substance Abuse Treatment Providers to find ways to operate outside the administrative rules set by the Utah Department of Health and Human Services.

I am fully aware of the benefits of Sober Living Houses and would welcome the opportunity to provide a stable living environment for one home of four people, as is permitted according to the Development Code. The National Institute on Drug Abuse recommends a stay of at least 90 days in order for clients to receive the maximum value of the environment. Ninety days is actually a very short duration in terms of housing, so I feel that this proposal is more akin to a boarding house than a single-family home. To have a population of nearly 80 residents with such a high turnover rate in this treatment campus would shatter the character of this neighborhood. When this subdivision for 10 single-family homes was approved in 2021 I certainly do not believe this is what the Planning Commission had in mind and if anyone in the community had seen where this was heading, many of us would have opposed the project at this time.

I believe that if this project is approved it will negatively affect all of the residents in the surrounding area by causing parking problems, increasing both auto and pedestrian traffic, and causing noise issues. Eighty unrelated adults is just way too many people to have in such a small development. Many of the streets in this neighborhood do not even have sidewalks and the lighting at night is minimal. Because 300 W is not a through street, there will undoubtedly be crowding issues when the clients are being picked up and dropped off and when they are entertaining visitors.

I am opposed to this group campus in our neighborhood. I do not believe that it is in the best interests of the overall wellbeing in our area.

I am opposed to this project. Please do donate approve this project

I do not support this project in this area.

I live around the corner from the Mendenhall Development and am highly concerned about the way in which this project is proceeding. I would welcome a sober living group home in our neighborhood, but the scale and density of what is being proposed is more reflective of a drug rehab campus than a traditional sober living home.

To my knowledge, I Am Recovery has never operated a campus of this design and scale and it is not in line with industry best practices. It appears I Am Recovery and Forum Builders are attempting to skirt laws and regulations that would govern this project if it were called what it is - a drug rehab campus, and that enabling I Am Recovery to move forward with this proposal puts their clientele at higher risk for relapse, crime, abuse, overdose and suicide and that these issues will bleed into the surrounding community.

This seems highly problematic if a precedent is set to allow a residential treatment campus to go into operation under the guise of ordinances meant for single sober living homes within a traditional residential community.

Please deny the request from Forum Builders and I Am Recovery to proceed with this project, as well as their request for a conditional use permit and require them to submit a new application that addresses the appropriate legal standards for a residential treatment campus.

I am very concerned about this proposal due to the possibility of a high concentration of group homes in one neighborhood. I do not believe this would be in the best interest of the patients/group home residents, the neighborhood, or the city.

The patients/group home residents would be segregated from the community and this would defeat one of the purposes of a group home - allowing them to reintegrate in to a stable community. The area is also immediately adjacent to the railroad tracks and I believe this could be very dangerous for the patients/residents and high risk for a population with higher rates of suicidal ideation.

I also believe the neighborhood would be negatively impacted by a large increase in foot and vehicle traffic, with 80 patients/residents and employees added to the neighborhood, as there are a limited number of through streets due to the railroad tracks. There are very few sidewalks and street lights in the area, and increased traffic would directly increase the risk to the entire neighborhood. Also, the addition of this type of facility/campus would completely alter the community. What is now a quiet, residential/agricultural neighborhood with a close-knit feel would turn in to a loud, busy, and impersonal semi-commercial area. Many of my neighbors have expressed the desire to move away if this proposal is approved due to these reasons.

I believe this proposal would negatively impact the city as a whole due an exodus of long-time, residents invested in the neighborhood and city, a high likelihood of increased costs from police/first responder visits to the area, increased costs of improvements to the area (i.e.; sidewalks and street lights).

Please deny this proposal.

I am the bishop of the LDS ward covering the boundaries to include the Mendenhall Estates. I have lived in the area 10 years and have seen many changes to downtown Lehi and surrounding areas. I support group homes, but not in the density proposed by Forum Builders and I Am Recovery. This type of campus will adversely affect the area and the residents. I am concerned about the neighborhood traffic and safety, transient nature of the residents and overpopulation of this part of the neighborhood.

Generally this area is zoned to allow group homes, but I don’t believe the intent is to allow a treatment campus of 10 homes in a concentrated area. It becomes a business in a residential area and causes many issues for surrounding residents and the general neighborhood.

Lehi needs the benefit of single families moving into these homes and not the negative consequences of a treatment campus for recovery addicts.