Johns Creek council approves Emory-backed wellness and recovery center with security, landscaping and camera conditions

The Johns Creek City Council on Dec. 8 approved a zoning change that lets Emory Johns Creek Hospital and TRT Recovery convert an existing 35,361-square-foot memory-care facility at 12050 Finley Road into a residential wellness and recovery center.

Director Song presented staff and Planning Commission recommendations supporting approval with conditions, including a non-climb perimeter fence and supplemental landscape screening. "Staff has recommended approval with conditions of RZ 25003," Song said during the presentation of the application, describing a 7.69-acre site and noting no exterior changes to the building were proposed.

Emory’s counsel Chuck Palmer said Emory plans to buy the tract and keep the building’s footprint. Heather Redrick, chief operating officer at Emory Johns Creek Hospital, told the council: "As an acute care facility, we recognize the need for a wellness and recovery center for our community" and said the hospital supports TRT operating the program.

Todd Stumbo, an owner and operator with TRT Recovery, described the proposed use as a voluntary, structured residential program for adults that typically runs about 28 days. "Every client that enters the facility does so voluntarily," Stumbo said. He said the operator screens for payment/insurance and for clinical suitability, and that the program will not accept Medicare, Medicaid or court-ordered patients.

Residents voiced strong concerns during the public hearing. Robert Kurbell, who said he has lived near Findlay Road since 1991, warned of "perceived and actual risks regarding safety, property values, day to day quality of life" and asked how the city and operator would prevent patients from leaving the site or creating loitering. Other residents cited proximity to an elementary school and potential impacts on home values.

Council members pressed the applicant on admissions, staffing, fencing and security. Stumbo said the operator typically schedules admissions in advance, conducts an hour-plus screening, staffs facilities 24/7 with nurses and behavioral health techs, and uses card access, cameras and staff observations to limit elopement. He also said the operator generally expects to run the Johns Creek location at a smaller practical capacity ("probably going to be in the more 35 to 50 range") than the site's 96 licensed beds under the prior memory-care use.

To address neighborhood concerns, the Planning Commission added conditions requiring non-climb fence language and landscape screening where vegetation is sparse; council members worked with staff to further require that license-plate-reading cameras (Flock) be located on the subject property and approved/connected by Johns Creek Police. One council member made a motion to approve RZ-25-0003 with Planning Commission conditions and an added Flock-camera condition; a second was recorded and the motion "passed 6".

The approval modifies the parcel’s OI (office/institutional) conditions to allow operation of a wellness and recovery center operated by TRT Recovery LLC and owned by Emory Johns Creek Hospital, with specified security, screening and landscaping requirements. The council directed staff to work with the applicant on final condition language and to coordinate camera placement with the police department.

The decision is procedural (a zoning map amendment) and does not itself license operations; the facility will still be subject to state licensing and any required permits. Director Song noted that the proposed center would seek national accreditation and Georgia Department of Community Health licensure.

The council adjourned following an executive session later in the evening.