Planning commission recommends denial of two special‑use permits for transitional treatment and outpatient office after neighborhood opposition

The Richmond City Planning Commission voted on Tuesday to recommend denial of two companion special‑use ordinances that would have allowed an adult residential treatment facility at 2701 Garland Avenue and an outpatient professional office at 2700 North Avenue. The commission’s decisions followed a lengthy public hearing in which dozens of neighbors, clergy and civic leaders urged denial and raised questions about public safety, neighborhood fit and applicant outreach.

Kenny Anderson, chief operating officer of Hype Counseling Services, described the proposal as a licensed, evidence‑based treatment program meeting ASAM 3.5 level of care and accredited by CARF. Anderson said the program is voluntary, not a judicially mandated or correctional placement, and that participants would undergo clinical screening before admission. “Admission to our facility is completely voluntary,” Anderson told the commission, and staff conduct background checks and clinical assessments before a bed is accepted.

Residents and neighborhood leaders pressed the applicant on several points: whether clinicians would be on site overnight, whether residents could exit the facility without clinical discharge, what fences and outdoor spaces would look like, and whether Hype had engaged nearby homeowners and civic associations. Battery Park Civic Association president Maria Cara Rose and multiple pastors said outreach had been insufficient and that details provided in successive documents were inconsistent.

Multiple speakers also cited prior enforcement actions involving Hype’s other facilities in 2024; community members said those records raised questions about the applicant’s ability to operate a more intensive locked residential program. Pastor Jeffrey Smith of Garland Avenue Baptist Church, whose church sits across the street from one of the parcels, urged commissioners to deny the permit and said the location is not appropriate for a high‑intensity residential use given proximity to families, churches and schools.

Commission discussion focused on competing priorities: the documented need for substance‑use treatment and the city’s interest in expanding services, versus neighborhood character and public safety concerns tied to siting a twenty‑four‑hour residential program in a tightly knit, primarily residential block. Commissioners noted that state licensure and city building code processes remain separate from the Planning Commission’s zoning recommendation.

The Planning Commission voted to recommend denial of the special use for 2701 Garland Avenue and of the companion request for 2700 North Avenue; the decisions will be transmitted to city council with recommendations for denial. Planning staff noted that applicants can revise proposals and return or pursue other locations that better match the ordinance’s by‑right districts for congregate residential treatment.

What was decided: Motion to deny the special use permit for 2701 Garland Avenue carried; the commission recorded multiple aye votes with one abstention. The companion item for 2700 North Avenue was denied in a separate vote with similar tallies. Both recommendations will be forwarded to city council.