Date: 2002-11-09
http://www.observer-reporter.com/ Saturday, March 9, 2002
Zoning board rejects group home request BY SCOTT BEVERIDGE
THE OBSERVER-REPORTER
CHARLEROI - Fallowfield Township Zoning Hearing Board has denied a firm's request to open a group home for troubled youth.
The board ruling involving a VisionQuest home is expected to be appealed to Washington County Court, board solicitor Jason Walsh said Friday.
VisionQuest plans to lease the former Colonial Meadows Personal Care Home to house as many as 30 teen-agers convicted of a wide range of charges.
The board, however, ruled Thursday in favor of the local zoning enforcement officer, who denied the company an occupancy permit because it did not seek a zoning variance, the ruling indicates.
The board further ruled that denying a zoning variance did not cause the company any hardship since the personal care home owner, Ken McGavitt, made the decision to close that facility late last year, Walsh said.
The board noted that a juvenile facility differs greatly from a personal care home, Walsh added.
Local residents have crowded zoning hearing board meetings to voice concerns that the youth home would bring trouble to their neighborhood.
VisionQuest, with offices in Coatesville and Tucson, Ariz., has a permit from the state Department of Public Welfare to open the Fallowfield home on Old Route 71.
The firm's attorney, Pat Rega, could not be reached Friday afternoon for comment.
VisionQuest has received approval to open a home for pregnant teen-agers on Franklin Street in Washington. South Strabane Township Zoning Hearing Board on Feb. 19 denied VisionQuest a variance to open a home for juvenile offenders on North Main Steet. Both of those homes also are owned by McGavitt.