A psychiatric treatment facility is opening in a Reno neighborhood

A recent public comment at a Reno City Council brought up an issue that took many people by surprise.  

The reason: A residential psychiatric facility is opening in a Reno neighborhood. That is of course creating a lot of questions for nearby residents.

But opposition to the facility also drew considerable negative responses. People commenting online condemned what they called NIMBY-ism and ableist attitudes by the neighbors who expressed concern.

For this episode we hear from one of the neighbors about why she is concerned. We also check in with Reno City Manager Doug Thornley about why such facilities can and do come to neighborhoods in Nevada.

Listen below and on KWNK 97.7 Community Radio. 

Subscribe here on most major podcast apps: https://thisisreno.buzzsprout.com.

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Episode Transcript

Unknown (00:00):
So I think for me to raise the awareness to have

(00:02):
people thinking about thisissue, maybe thinking creatively
about how we can get betteraccess to mental health services
for all members of ourpopulation, you know, mental
health is something that's veryimportant to me.
So I don't think we weren'tnecessarily surprised. I think
it is typical probably forneighbors to be surprised

(00:25):
because there is no noticingrequirement. And I actually
would say that the reaction fromthese neighbors is not a typical
and in situations like this.
A recent public comment at areno city council meeting
brought up an issue that tookmany people by surprise. The

(00:47):
reason a residential psychiatricfacility is opening in a reno
neighborhood. That is, of coursecreating a lot of questions for
nearby residents, and outrage.
This feels like a taking of ourproperty of our way of life of
our investment by the city bythe Division of Health and Human

(01:08):
Services and by the state and itfeels very disrespectful and
very wrong on so many levels,but opposition to the facility
also drew considerable negativeresponses. people commenting
online condemned what theycalled nimbyism and ableist
attitudes by the neighbors whoexpressed concern for this
episode, we hear from one of theneighbors about why she is

(01:30):
concerned. We also check in withReno city manager Doug Thornley
about why such facilities canand do come to neighborhoods in
Nevada. For this week in Renonews, I am your host Bob Conrad
with this is reno.com. Specialthanks to the Truckee Meadows

(02:11):
Water Authority for sponsoringthis episode.
Summertime conservation isstandard and Truckee Meadows
Water Authority. It's what wedo. And this year we can all
prevent waste by keepingsprinklers off between noon and
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about water.com.
Jill Stockton lives in NorthwestReno, she recently penned an

(02:34):
opinion column in this as Reno.
She said she had grave concernsand a number of questions about
the facility that is opening upnext door to her. I spoke with
her at length about thesituation and why she responded
the way she did.
Well, my husband and Idiscovered on April 18. Through
our own research and our ownexploration, that a psychiatric

(03:00):
residential treatment facilityfor severely emotionally
disturbed children ages six to17, which is a for profit
business would be going in tothe home right next door to us.
The home sold about 11 monthsago and sat vacant for that
entire time. Up until the pointof April 18. When I was working

(03:23):
from home, I saw a semi truckpull up in front of my house and
it was unloading a lot of heavyconstruction equipment,
excavators, bobcats, etc. And soin seeing that happen, I
obviously call my husband to lethim know Oh, I guess somebody's
going to move in or something'sgoing on next door. They're

(03:44):
going to be doing somerenovation and my husband being
savvy and creative as he is. Hewent ahead and pulled the
permits. And when we pulled thepermits, we learned that the
city of Reno had issued a permitfor this homeowner to add on a
1923 square foot addition, a twostory addition to the existing

(04:08):
home so that in total when thehome is complete, it will be
5723 square feet nearly threetimes the size of other homes in
the area. So in a nutshell,that's what's going on.
And you posted a pretty pointedop ed on this, as we know late

(04:36):
last week. Thank you forthinking of us. I really
appreciate that. And it drew alot of negative comments. Tell
me what you're thinking aboutthose?
Well, I mean, I think you know,it's a sensitive issue, and it's
a complex issue. Related tobringing commercial business
into residential area large inthis example is 60 1000 square

(05:00):
foot facility is quite large ina residential area. I think
it's, you know, unfortunate, thename calling that happens online
without true awareness and trueresearch to understand the
differences between what a grouphome is defined by Nevada

(05:22):
revised statute. And what apsychiatric residential
treatment facility is how that'sdefined. They're two completely
different things.
What are the what are thedifferences, because I think
some people have have gottenlost in identifying
though and I'd have to go andpull some notes. I don't have my
notes here in front of me. Butlet me see I did pull up. Give

(05:48):
me one second, I just put abunch of links together. Here we
go. From the Nevada Division ofHealth and Human Services, they
through the NRS it's 449 dot1195. A psychiatric residential
treatment facility definedpsychiatric residential

(06:11):
treatment facility means afacility other than a hospital
that provides a range ofpsychiatric services to treat
residents under the age of 21years on an inpatient basis
under the direction of aphysician. So that is how the
NRS defines a psychiatricresidential treatment facility.

(06:35):
And with regard to a group home,the state of Nevada regulates
group homes in the city of Renozoning code allows them in all
residential zoning districts.
group homes are supposed to lookand function like a single
family residence so they blendin with the neighborhood. group
homes are allowed by right andall residential zoning districts

(06:58):
and no public hearing or nopublic notice is required. So
that's the information that wegot regarding group homes
through Amy pennington, who isWard five council woman Naomi
Jordans community liaison.
Okay, um, I'm not 100% Clear onon what it is or which which is

(07:22):
applied to the property next toyou, is there going to be a
group home or psychiatricfacility on the permit?
It's classified as a psychiatricresidential treatment facility.
But the use is a group homewhat what is the concern? Are
you concerned about trafficnoise? More people next door?
Whathave several concerns, I think

(07:45):
the biggest concern is relatedto no one being able to give the
residents on this street clearindication of what this type of
business entails and what itmeans for us. I think if we were
to receive some information tohelp us understand if it's going

(08:05):
to be a secured location, arethey going to have janitorial,
janitorial service providers,are they going to have a
building and grounds operationhandling maintenance, are they
going to have a food serviceperson handling the meals for
the patients, we've been toldonly one RN and one technician
will reside full time in thehome, the doctor that owns the

(08:28):
home told us a group ofneighbors that he will not be
living in the home. So we justhave really no information. And
I think that's part of theproblem. If there were some
transparency in thecommunication with regard to the
exact number of patients, thehours of operation, what we can

(08:50):
expect how many cars are goingto be coming to and from are
they parking in front of myhouse blocking my driveway? My
neighbors across the street?
If I'm hearing what you'resaying it's really the dearth of
information, or the lack ofinformation and the lack of the

(09:11):
transparency, or I should say,yeah, the lack of transparency
behind how this happened and theinability to get answers. Is
that a fair way to summarizeyour concern?
I'm not opposed to what'shappening. I would just like to
have an understanding of whatthis means so that if my husband

(09:31):
and I with our two elementaryaged children find out maybe
this isn't the best location forus. We have the knowledge that
we need to make an empowereddecision to do what's best for
our family. But at this point intime, no matter how we slice
this, it's a losing hand. eithernumber one we're listening to
and living through a two storeyconstruction project. 2000

(09:56):
square feet in size, dealingwith the construction the
equipment If the contractors, soon and so forth, they complete
the construction, then we'regoing to have 10 patients, two
full time people living in thehome with no idea of who's
coming and going, are theyhaving visitation? Do they have
psychotherapist, psychiatrist,occupational therapists,

(10:19):
janitorial maintenance, so onand so forth coming and going
from this house daily, I dobelieve in mental health, I do
feel we have very inadequatemental health resources
available, even the high need.
And within this community,particularly coming out of the
pandemic, this is a seriousissue in our community. And if
they can run this operation,legally, to code following state

(10:44):
regulation, and it's a no bigdeal. Awesome. It's a win win
for all of us.
I want to I want to address yourcommentary at city council,
we'll probably put a clip in inthe podcast.
It is very disappointing. I'mvery disappointed in Neo

(11:04):
majorities. And I wish anybrackets a lot of luck in your
run for Mayor, thank you.
Talk about your what you saidand why you said what you said
several of our neighbors reachedout to ward five representative
nao majority. And we all had avariety of different concerns.

(11:26):
And rather than Neoma Jordan todo the right thing, take a
personal touch, make someconnections with her
constituents, she assigned thework to her community liaison
and just basically blanket senta form letter out to every
single one of us. So of course,because the neighbors on the
street around the block in thisarea are aware of what's

(11:48):
happening in their concern. Westarted talking about it, and
people aren't happy. And Naomineeds to know that her residents
aren't happy that we'reconcerned. And if every two
storey house that goes up forsale in this neighborhood is
converted to a business, sheshould probably want to be aware
of that and be engaged in theprocess to work with her

(12:10):
constituents and maybe find ahappy medium with regard to what
the process is, how to engagethe public, how to listen to
their concerns. It just feltvery disrespectful to be
disregarded by her. Same withthe mayor,
I live around the corner from awell what used to be a youth are

(12:31):
underage young women teen girlspregnancy facility. And I will
tell you until I potentially dida story on that facility about
maybe two years ago, I don'teven remember we didn't end up
doing the story. I had no ideawhat it was. And I will be
honest with you. It's in myneighborhood, it's a block away
from where I live. I never seeany traffic or anyone there like

(12:55):
the doors are closed. It looks.
I was shocked to find out thisthing. You know, this facility
was was just around the cornerfrom me. What What have you seen
in your research about how theseother facilities have been run?
Let's say in Vegas, have therebeen incidences or any concerns?
Or or what's what's been the thetrend that you've identified,

(13:17):
you know that there is aninvestigation being conducted on
how these types of facilitiesare run? How do I want to say
this? I've already been calledNIMBY, Karen. So at this point
in an elitist, which is great,so it's fine. No matter what I
say here, I'm going to changethat. It's it's sensitive. And I

(13:38):
think what my motivation is, anduncovering this and talking
about this is to ask theresponsible parties to do their
due diligence and make sure thedoctors that are running these
types of facilities are doctorsin good standing, have
generally, you know, goodreputations, the credibility

(13:59):
exists to indicate that they'reworthy of practicing medicine,
such as this. But you know,there is a concern that there
are doctors that are interestedin making money off of these
patients that reside withinthese facilities. And in this
investigation at the Departmentof Justice's looking into

(14:21):
statewide here in Nevada, theyare speculating that some of
these doctors work to keep thekids sick so that they can get
paid out by private insuranceand by Medicaid and I don't say
that to sensationalize. You canlook the article up yourself and
see that for yourself. But thatis a reality. That's a dark

(14:42):
reality of some of these typesof facilities. So I think for me
to raise the awareness to havepeople thinking about this
issue, maybe thinking creativelyabout how we can get better
access to mental health servicesfor all members of our
population. And as I saidearlier in this program, you

(15:03):
know, mental health is somethingthat's very important to me. We
recently had a tragedy in ourfamily that was related to
mental health. So it's verydifficult when people dismiss,
dismiss the fact that this isconnected to mental health. But

(15:27):
it's a bigger issue than that.
This isn't a one dimensionalissue. This is a highly complex,
highly sensitive, highlydivisive issue. And these types
of issues are not comfortable totalk about. They're not
comfortable to face, but from mypoint of view, and recognizing
that I have two young kidsmyself, you know, they're worth

(15:50):
the fight. And it's worth metaking a little heat and being
called names in the social mediarealm, to get people to talk.
They don't have to like what I'msaying, I'm not asking anyone to
agree. I'm just asking people tothink and question and question
those in charge to, you know, doright by the constituents by

(16:11):
listening to them, by trying toengage with them, you know, as
these types of facilities getlocated in residential areas?
What was your reaction to someof the comments that you saw
online? You referenced it alittle bit?
I mean, I think you know, mewell enough to know, we do have

(16:33):
a personal I have to disclose.
I've known Bob for a while. ButI mean, the comments, you know,
they sing, but I also kind ofget a kick out of it. I mean, it
kind of just makes me chuckle.
Because at the end of the day,my motivation is to get people
talking. And that's exactly whatthey're doing. So they can call

(16:53):
me not in my backyard, Karen,NIMBY, Karen elitist, NIMBY,
Karen, you know, and otherchoice adjectives to describe
me, I'm totally fine with that.
They're talking baby. So justkeep talking. Keep talking about
this issue, keep askingquestions. And you know, if we
can just raise awareness andkeep people talking, they can

(17:14):
call me whatever name they want.
Your column has had 1000s ofviews. It's been the top
trending since almost a minuteit was published. So for how
many days is that now? Five,four or five days now? And
surprising me? I never knowwhat's going to be popular on

(17:35):
this as Reno I tune in. I justcheck the trending stories about
Daly and this one has not moved.
So I think I think you have alot of interest. And it is I
think a little unfortunate thatpeople aren't recognizing the
like you mentioned thecomplexity of the issue and are

(17:58):
focusing on what I'm guessing isthe there.
It's the mental health angle.
It's basically saying to me, youdon't want this there. You're
not in favor of mental health.
It's not a black and whiteissue. This is a Venn diagram
with a lot of great overlap.

(18:18):
Would you say that this issymptomatic of Reno's growing
pains. You know, I remember acouncil member about four years
ago said, You're not going torecognize this valley in 10
years?
I would probably say yes, Ithink it's a combination of
that. I also think it's acombination of West Hills

(18:40):
closing, the combination of ourcommunity growing and the city
council allowing it to grow sorapidly without really doing
tough investigation related tothe infrastructure, the roads,
the schools, the utilities, etcetera, et cetera. So I think
this is what's happening here inthis neighborhood is yet another

(19:03):
indication of rapid growth, notenough time to pay attention to
the particulars of what's goingon. And, you know, for speaking
for myself and myself only it'slike, growing for the sake of
growing, we're just just grow,grow, grow, we need more people.
But even if you are a healthyresident that does not need to

(19:26):
reside in a psychiatricresidential treatment facility.
You can see your own specialistin less than three months time
and renewAfter deal statements to the

(20:00):
city council in early May, Renocity manager issued a letter
explaining the legality of suchfacilities and why they can be
in residential areas. Here'scity manager Doug Thornley,
we did have a number of folksshow up, they were unhappy with
the decision to issue a buildingpermit to expand a residence out

(20:21):
there in Northwest Reno. Andit's the thing that doesn't come
up very often. And so I thinkthere are a lot of points of
confusion because you know, it'sthe residential treatment
facilities exist at theconfluence of federal state and
local law. But But the long andthe short of it is, is that for

(20:42):
any residential treatmentfacility in the state of Nevada,
that serves fewer than 11residents, they're allowed in
any single family zoneddistrict. And the reason for
that is, is that the federalgovernment passed a series of

(21:02):
laws that precludediscrimination in housing. And,
you know, one of the areas thatthose laws cover are folks with
disabilities. So the drawn ablank on the acronym at the
moment, I don't have the memo infront of me, but the Fair
Housing Act prevents, preventsus from saying no, you know,

(21:23):
these are the zoning districtswhere these people can live.
Right. And so in this memo thatyou recently issued to the mayor
and the council, you say that itis unlawful to deny a building
permit for a home? Because it isintended to provide housing for
persons experiencing mentalillness? I think that's, that's

(21:44):
kind of a key statement here. Isthat correct?
It is correct. I mean, you know,I think there are a lot of
things that go into into thesebuilding permit evaluations. And
so you know, design elements orthings like that, that are
required through, you know, thezoning district or the handbook,
obviously, the house is requiredto comply with those, but as a
standalone reason saying, Hey,you can't have a building permit

(22:06):
to expand with a single familyresidence, within all of those
design considerations, andmeeting all those standards, for
the sole reason that people withdisabilities are going to live
and receive treatment there.
That's against the law. We can'tdo that.
Now, it seems to me that, fromwhat I've heard from the other
side of this issue, is thatthey're really taken by

(22:28):
surprise. Is there a way thatthe city, are you considering
different kinds of noticing? Orwere you also taken by surprise
by this?
Well, I mean, I don't know. Idon't know, take him by
surprise, right. I mean, we get,we get applications for building
permits all the time. And so,you know, some part of the
organization was aware of theintent to establish a

(22:50):
residential treatment facilityat this site. So I don't think
we weren't necessarilysurprised. I think it is typical
probably for neighbors to besurprised, because there is no
noticing requirement. And Iactually would say that the
reaction from these naters isnot a typical in situations like
this.

(23:11):
Yeah. Is there anything that'sgoing to change as a result of
this coming out in a way that itdid? From the city's
perspective?
We don't have any intention ofchanging anything at this time.
No.
Okay. Okay. When I heard thehearing, it sounded to me like,

(23:31):
this was like a brand new thing,almost.
This is not a brand new thing.
And then as you know, the statelaw was revised, I think, last
in 2017. But a law similar tothat, or some analog of that law
has been on the books for along, long time. And of course,
the Fair Housing Act has existedin, you know, a couple of forms
for the last 60 years. So, youknow, the most recent round of

(23:59):
amendments was 9099. But this isnot, this is not new. Now, in
terms of zoning controls, andthings like that, and litigation
that has changed the shape andface of how, how these things
are established. That's been influx more recently, I suppose.

(24:21):
You know, I think that memo thatyou have cites a Nevada district
court decision from like, 2007,maybe.
Yes, the Nevada Fair HousingCenter, Inc. Versus Clark County
in 2008.
Right. And so the parentheticalthat you'll see in that memo
says that, you know, the FederalDistrict Court for the District,

(24:44):
Nevada judge hex at the time hestruck down Nevada's statute. It
was Nevada statute, or a clarkcounty ordinance that required
that had spacing requirementsbetween these facilities and
And, and registrationrequirements for these
facilities. And the the gist ofthe decision is, you know, we

(25:09):
don't have spacing requirementsfor other groups of people in
residential areas, we don't haveregistration requirements for
other groups of people inresidential areas and so
singling out people withdisabilities and requiring them
to meet a different standardthan other people who enjoy the
the peace and quiet and livingsituation of a single family

(25:31):
zoned area is discriminatory.
Okay, are there any? Well, oneof the concerns that I'm hearing
from them also is that this isobviously a commercial business?
Are there any concerns on thatend? Or is that just going to be
in the nature of these things?
Because of how these kinds ofgroup homes or, or treatment

(25:52):
facilities are? I mean,obviously, they're gonna be run
by a business to some to someextent.
Yeah, I think that's right. Imean, you know, they're they
many, if not all of them, arecommercial in nature, right. I
mean, someone has to get paidto, to do this work. And so, you

(26:12):
know, the the, there are anumber of policy issues that I
think go into it, although Idon't know that they're within
the purview of the city. Youknow, when you think about it,
and you think about what's theideal treatment environment. For
people with disability, it'sprobably not an industrial area,
right. It's probably not abusiness park, we want people to

(26:34):
be part of the community, wewant them to lead, as close to,
you know, I think a quoteunquote, normal life as we can
possibly facilitate. And so, youknow, there, there are a lot of
reasons for why the federalgovernment, state government,
local governments would wouldmake it mandatory for zoning

(26:56):
codes to accommodate the sortsof facilities in a residential
zoning district.
Okay, great. Great. Well, thankyou so much. Is there anything
else you want to add about thesituation?
No, I mean, I think, you know,this is it's a tough one, and it
comes up. I wouldn't sayfrequently, it shows up in a

(27:17):
number of of ways. But at at theend, right, it's it really is
anti discrimination provisionsin federal state law, that, that
obligate local governments toinclude facilities like this in
residential zoning districts.
People with disabilities arenot, you know, they're not the

(27:39):
only people who fall under theumbrella or the, you know, the
protection of this umbrella. I'maware of another situation where
neighbors were upset about thetreatment facility and
residential facility that isoperated by safe embrace. Right.

(28:00):
So for people who are sufferingfrom or escaping living
situations that that are rifewith domestic violence. This
issue takes sort of all forms.
And, you know, while I canunderstand the frustration of

(28:23):
the neighbors, I do think it'simportant that we continue to
protect our vulnerablepopulations by by allowing,
allowing facilities like this toestablish in residential
districts.
Yeah, one thing I said to Jillwas, I didn't know it until I
was almost going to do a storyon it. But there's a youth or
teen pregnancy home, just aroundthe corner from my house. I had

(28:46):
no idea until somebody raised anissue with something that had
happened there. And I was I was,frankly, a little surprise, but
you know, I've never seen anyonethere. I've never, I mean, maybe
a car there once or twice. Imean, they've, they're awfully
quiet. And and I just wouldn'thave known. I mean, I knew it
was some kind of a group home orsomething because of the name,

(29:10):
but I never knew quite whatexactly it was until somebody
had contacted us about maybe ayear or two ago about something
that was alleged to havehappened there. But it was,
frankly, a surprise to me. Andso I guess I can see why some of
these folks would be surprisedby this popping up next door if
they, you know, started bringingin tractors and whatever. Right.

(29:32):
Right. Yeah. Right. So, youknow, it's really, it's really
that I mean, I think, you know,people would be surprised at how
many of these facilities arearound because I think in
general, most operators tried tobe exceptional neighbors.
That's it for this week'sepisode for this is Reno I am
Bob Conrad, please visit usonline and if you are able,

(29:54):
please subscribe to get fullaccess to our website and to
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