Residents of the Summerfield subdivision in Augusta County are worried that a planned crisis center near their homes will lead to dangerous conditions in an otherwise quiet neighborhood.
Valley Community Services Board purchased the 6.17-acre site to build a $16.5 million crisis receiving, stabilization, detoxification and recovery center that is on track to open in the fall of 2027. The planned 25,000-square-foot structure will feature 102 parking spaces, fenced-in exercise areas and a sally port for the admission and release of some patients.
The neighborhood is situated in the area of Wilson Boulevard and Tinkling Springs Road in Fishersville with some homes within 150 yards of the center’s property lines.
Robin Wade has lived in her home on Summerfield Drive for more than 35 years; she bought the first home in the development with her husband when the neighborhood was under construction.
Prior to her retirement, she worked at a mental health facility and has loved ones who deal with addiction issues, so she understands more than some the need for treatment options.
Despite her background, she’s angry that there has been no communication from VCSB with homeowners to allay their fears about safety and property values.
“They could have come back here, passed out fliers or anything, and let us know what their plan was and what they plan on doing and how they plan on keeping these patients in there,” Wade told AFP. “I just don’t think it was handled right.”
Wade isn’t alone in her opposition to locating the crisis center near residential neighborhoods.
VCSB considered an alternative site on Lifecore Drive which would have required the Augusta County Board of Supervisors and Planning Commission to sign off on the rezoning. As part of that process, public hearings would have been required.
After nearby property owners raised similar issues of safety and property values, VCSB leaders met with families in the area to discuss their plans, before required hearings, but the critics were not swayed. Due to the backlash, VCSB withdrew its application for proffers related to the building size and chose not to purchase the property.
Wade told AFP she feels like they weren’t provided the same courtesy as far as outreach because they aren’t as affluent as the people at the alternative site.
“Our neighborhood’s less money, that makes us back here feel like, well, you don’t matter.”
Businesses that have located near them previously haven’t caused any concerns, until this one.
“The whole issue is this is a mental crisis center. It is not some place to put it next to where you have small kids and a neighborhood,” she said.
Neighbors of crisis center fear for safety
There are approximately 25 homes in the Summerfield subdivision with additional homes nearby on Tinkling Springs Road.
Wade’s neighbor, Shawn Smith, has a home on Wilson Lane, approximately 150 yards from the crisis center property. While he said he supports treatment and recovery efforts for addiction and mental health issues, the location raises serious concerns for the safety, wellbeing and quality of life for his family.
“Our neighborhood is a quiet, family-oriented area with many young children, including my own,” he said.
“The school bus comes through and stops to pick up kids all throughout this subdivision,” said neighbor Kate White, who would like VCSB to reconsider the site. “Kids are playing in their yards. We will no longer feel safe in our homes with this facility being so close to us.”
Smith believes the decision was made “without proper community consultation or transparency” and has asked the county to step in to hold a public hearing and pause any development.
“Our neighborhood deserves to be safe and informed, and our children deserve a secure environment to grow up in.”
Wade shares the concerns of her two neighbors and said that the nearby Crossroads Behavioral Health Services has already led to safety issues in the neighborhood.
“We have people now that will escape from Crossroads and will come back through here,” Wade said. “One of the instances was at one o’clock in the morning, knocking on our neighbor’s door, and then when he didn’t answer the door, the law picked her up as she was walking through the neighborhood.
“Is this something that we have to look forward to? Are we going to have to put surveillance up on our houses? Are these people going to be behind locked doors? I doubt it.”
Wade strongly believes that VCSB leaders wouldn’t have chosen the site if they lived in the adjoining neighborhood.
“I agree we need these facilities for these people but put them where other people are not put in harm’s way by the patient themselves,” Wade said. “I have experienced firsthand with my own family. I know the strength these people can have when they’re on drugs or alcohol or just mental issues, and I just feel they could put this in a better place.”
VCSB: ‘We fear things we don’t understand’
“I would absolutely feel safe,” McClanahan told AFP. “The folks in that building are in treatment. They are not criminals. These are people who need help, and this is a win for the community.
“I think we fear things we don’t understand,” McClanahan said.
The crisis center budget has more than $15 million coming from grants from the Virginia Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental Services, or DBHDS. Staunton, Waynesboro, Augusta County and Highland County will contribute a combined $1.8 million to the facility and community outreach and donations will make up the remaining revenue required to build and outfit the center. The land acquisition cost was $971,000, according to a presentation to the Augusta County Board of Supervisors on June 23.
The current site did not require any public hearing or board approval, because it already met the zoning requirements for the crisis center. The location had been on Valley Community Services Board’s radar for some time and was the very first site that it looked at when searching for a permanent home for the facility.
In retrospect, McClanahan said that even though there was no obligation to do so, a conversation with homeowners nearby may have helped them feel more comfortable with the news.
“Perhaps we should have talked to the homeowners,” she said. “I do, however, wonder if the trucking company talked to them, if the car wash up the street talked to them, if the Wawa that’s coming talked to them.”
In Staunton, Augusta County and Waynesboro, the number of deaths by suicide is almost double the state and national average. A community needs assessment by Augusta Health ranked mental health and substance abuse both in the top five needs in the area.
“What it comes down to me is the fear about the people that we serve, and these are people who have life crises that need help,” McClanahan said.
VCSB: ‘This is a very secure facility’
Under Augusta County zoning ordinances, there are required setbacks, according to John Sandy, finance director for VCSB. The back of the building will face the residential development and will include a loading dock and fire lane providing additional separation between the facility and homes. The entrance will face some of the other businesses located there. The design of the facility will blend in with other buildings in the industrial park.
As far as safety is concerned, the facility will include a sally port, which means that anyone transferred to the center from the sheriff’s office or police department would be sight unseen from the public into the facility, and when they are released, these patients would be transported from the facility through the same process.
In addition to the sally port, the Augusta County Sheriff’s Office will have a presence at the facility, Sandy said, and there will be additional security on hand.
“In terms of security, it will be a locked facility for the protection of the people inside, so given that, it protects the people outside as well,” Sandy told AFP. “There will be law enforcement 24/7, so in that regard, there will be law enforcement closer to this area than there is now.
“This is a very secure facility.”
Valley Community Services Board plans to break ground on the facility later this year.
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Crystal Graham
