CAMDEN, Maine — A federal judge has dismissed a lawsuit filed by neighbors and other opponents to a high-end alcohol rehabilitation center.
U.S. District Judge Nancy Torresen ruled that since the plaintiffs in the lawsuit were not challenging the fact that the patients to the center were handicapped as defined by the federal Fair Housing Act, that there was no federal issue in question.
“Because the issue of whether the Bay View Property patients will be “handicapped” or “disabled” is not in dispute, there is no embedded federal question. The court lacks jurisdiction. For that reason, the plaintiffs’ claims must be dismissed,” Torresen stated in her ruling signed Friday and filed Monday in U.S. District Court in Portland.
McLean Hospital Borden Cottage, the name of the facility at Fox Hill in Camden, was given a provisional one-year license in December by the state to operate the rehab center. McLean plans to open the facility early this year.
New York City attorney David Burger, who represents the opponents to the rehab center, said Monday afternoon he had no comment on the ruling.
Attorney Paul Gibbons of Camden, who represents Fox Hill, said the clinic will move forward.
“We are pleased the burden of this lawsuit is gone,” Gibbons said. “Justice has been done.”
He referred questions about when the facility might open to officials at McLean Hospital in Belmont, Massachusetts. A call to the hospital late Monday afternoon was not immediately returned.
The lawsuit was filed in March 2014 by Undercliff Cottage LLC, Phelan 2006 Family Trust, Julie and Charles Cawley, Parker Laite Sr. and Friends of Camden Maine LLC.
“The provisions of the Federal Fair Housing Act and the Maine Revised Statutes Annotated were not instituted to provide extremely wealthy persons with a one-month resort in a private residential area to recover from over-drinking,” the lawsuit argued.
The neighbors claimed the improper use of the Fox Hill property would adversely affect their properties by substantially increasing traffic and noise that would pose a serious safety problem due to the narrowness and sharp turn on Bay View Street. They also claimed the market value of properties near the treatment center would he harmed.
The issue has been a divisive one in Camden going back two years when Fox Hill Real Estate first attempted to get the town to amend its zoning laws to allow the treatment center to operate in the residential area of Bay View Street.
The Fox Hill owners are leasing the 16,442-square-foot home at 235 Bay View St. on nearly 14 acres for use as a center where patients would spend a month for treatment. Patients would pay $50,000-$60,000 for the month’s stay.
The Camden Select Board in February 2014 voted 3-2 against placing the proposed change on the municipal ballot. Fox Hill and McLean then announced later that month that it would reduce the number of beds at the treatment center from 12 to eight to allow the center to fall under the designation of a community living arrangement which is protected by federal law. That move bypassed the town regulatory process.