MDC clears rezoning for Volunteers of America residential recovery program at 6130 Michigan Road

The Metropolitan Development Commission voted 9-0 on June 18, 2025, to approve rezoning for a Volunteers of America facility at 6130 Michigan Road that will allow a residential recovery program for women and children and an increase in capacity to about 65 residents.

The decision clears a petition filed as 2025ZON044 to rezone the property to a DP (development plan) district to allow adaptive reuse of a long‑vacant nursing home into a residential recovery program with modular units, community space and supportive services. The petitioner told the commission it will invest nearly $4 million to rehabilitate the building and add eleven modular units, and staff recommended the rezoning.

Brian Tuohy, attorney for the petitioner, said the project will “invest, almost $4,000,000” in the building and add modular housing and community amenities to support recovery and re‑entry. Tuohy also told the commission the site has a bus stop at the front door and that the petitioner expects to begin rehabilitation in spring 2026 with residents moving in in fall 2026.

Department of Metropolitan Development staff clarified that a nursing facility had been allowed on the site in 1988 and that a 2011 approval allowed a residential recovery program at a lower capacity; the current proposal increases that capacity to about 65 and relocates modular units away from neighboring homes. Staff said they worked with the petitioner to reorient the site and add landscaping and play space to reduce impacts on adjacent properties and recommended approval of the DP.

The petitioners said programming will include life‑skills coaching, parenting classes, employment support and substance‑use recovery services. The project team identified Volunteers of America staff and consultants in the public record and said Volunteers of America plans to operate programming on site. The petitioner stated there were no remonstrators and that councilor Delaney had voiced informal support in a phone call.

The commission recorded a unanimous vote. Nancy (meeting clerk) reported nine ballots cast with nine yes votes and no no votes; the petition therefore carried. Commission voting members recorded in the roll call were Garver, Herget, Lyle, Moriarty, Murphy, Robinson, Schumacher, West and Dillon.

The commission did not attach additional conditions beyond the development plan commitments agreed between staff and the petitioner; staff will review final plan details as part of the DP approval process.

The Volunteers of America presentation and staff recommendation together framed the rezoning as a reuse of a vacant institutional building and an investment into services for women and children recovering from substance use and related challenges.