HomeMy WebLinkAboutLetter - Carl TappertHonorable Mayor and City Councilors,
It's safe to say that none of the neighbors are happy with the decision to house the criminally
insane in the Jackson House at the corner of Chestnut and Maple Streets. I would like to express
my tremendous disappointment with the Ashland Hospital Foundation for their complete
disregard for the neighboring community and with the Jackson County Health Department for
their profound lack of judgment in locating this facility.
But the disappointment of the neighbors is not likely to affect any change.
We believe that tine proposed use is wholly inappropriate for a residential area and that the current
zoning laws do not support this use. The property is located within the Health Care Services
Zone which specifically allows Congregate Care Facilities, Assisted Living Facilities, Residential
Care Facilities, and nursing homes.
The Ashland Land Use Code unfortunately does not define any of these facilities. The Oregon
Revised Statutes, Oregon Administrative Rules, and the Jackson County Land Use Codes do have
definitions at least for Residential Care Facilities. The most concise definition is in Chapter 443
of the Oregon Revised Statutes which regulates Home Health Agencies, Residential Facilities,
and Hospice Programs.
ORS 443.400
(4) "Residential care" means services such as supervision; protection; assistance while
bathing, dressing, grooming or eating; management of money; transportation; recreation; and the
providing of room and board.
(5) "Residential care facility" means a facility that provides, for six or more physically
disabled or socialtly dependent individuals, residential care in one or more buildings on
contiguous properties.
(6) "Residential facility" means a residential care facility, residential training facility,
residential treatment facility, residential training home or residential treatment home.
There is no doubt that the patients at the Jackson House will be receiving residential care as it is
defined by the ORS but there is a critical difference between the proposed population of Jackson
House and a typical Residential Care Facility and that is the fact that these patients have been
convicted of violent felonies. In addition to providing "residential care" this facility ~vi'[I also
provide incarceration. These patients do not have the choice of where they are located. They
cannot move into a different home if they don't like the food, their families cannot move them to
a different location to be closer to them, they cannot check out if they think they don't need the
treatment any longer. This is, in effect, a minimal securi~ prison which provides intense
treatment for the mentally ill. This use is far beyond any objective reading of the terms in the
Ashland Land Use Code.
We assert that the proposed use DOES NOT meet the requirements of the HC zoning and is a
violation of the Land Use Code. We believe that the City has an obligation to enforce the code by
not allowing this facility to be occupied as proposed.
Thank you for your consideration
Carl Tappert
591 Chestnut Street