Lakeview Health Systems wants to develop short-term housing in Arlington for patients in treatment and therapy for drug and alcohol addiction.
Lakeview proposes to own and operate the housing on almost 22 acres at 275 Aralia Lane, off of Arlington Road South behind the Harveys Supermarket. The site is wooded.
A request for a zoning exception and administrative deviation explains the housing is not a treatment center because Lakeview provides that at its master campus nearby at 1900 Corporate Square Blvd.
Once patients complete the initial course of treatment at the campus, they would be moved to the residential property as they undergo outpatient therapy for up to 40 days, the written description says.
Patients will be transported to the treatment campus at 7:30 a.m. and return to the housing at 9 p.m. No meals will be prepared or served at the property and patients cannot have personal vehicles or guests. It will be staffed around the clock.
Lakeview declined to comment until the land deal has been finalized, a spokeswoman said.
Lakeview Health requests an exception to use the property for a residential treatment facility. It requests an administrative deviation to reduce the minimum number of off-street parking spaces from 39 to 22.
The exception and deviation are scheduled to be introduced Thursday to the Jacksonville Planning Commission.
Lakeview also has submitted site plans to the city that show four residential structures. The two women’s buildings are separated from the men’s buildings.
Plans show the men’s buildings will provide 58 beds and the women’s structures will offer 42. The smaller buildings are referred to as serving the professional programs.
After a community meeting Aug. 29, Lakeview agreed that on-site parking would be limited to Lakeview employees and residents would be shuttled; no outdoor amplified sound would be permitted; no on-site food preparation and no on-site treatment would be provided; the entrance will be gated and access controlled by employees; security will be present from 9 p.m. to 5 a.m. and regularly during the day, while staff is trained in crisis intervention; and no public signage will be permitted.
Lakeview Health said 140 single-family dwelling units could have been developed on the property and that its proposed project would have “far fewer impacts on the general area.”
The project agent is lawyer Wyman Duggan with Rogers Towers.
Lakeview Health wants to preserve existing vegetation “to maintain a secluded and tranquil setting for patients.”
The main 12-acre campus is lakefront and includes men’s and women’s treatment programs and residential treatment buildings, the administration building, a café, and a conference center, wellness center and counseling center.
Lakeview Health offers addiction treatment and recovery programs for men and women.
