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ALTON - Several Alton residents raised their concerns about a drug and alcohol addiction recovery center that has opened in their neighborhood, reportedly without their knowledge or input. Some of the concerns raised focused on child safety, zoning violations, a lack of transparency, and more.
“No letters went out, none of the neighborhood was informed, and they just moved in,” said resident Cindy Slaughter. “I would like to know how we’re going to rectify that situation … they’re already living there, they’ve already moved in, so I don’t know what we can do about that.
“I’m all for anybody that needs to be in a house like this to get the help and healing that they need, I just don’t believe it should be on 11th Street.”
The property, a single-family home located in the 500 block of East 11th Street in Alton, has opened as an “Oxford House,” which are “self-run, self-supported recovery houses,” according to their website. According to the Oxford Houses of Illinois Directory, the Alton location is known as “Oxford House Turning Point,” was chartered on Sept. 20, and has a total occupancy of 11 males.
Neighborhood resident Anjie Stendeback said she was concerned about her children playing in the backyard she shares with the Oxford House, adding safety has been a general concern of hers in Alton.
“I come to you as a mother of children who share a backyard with this home, and they’re grade school children, so I think everyone can assume what my concerns are. Safety is a big issue for me in this town,” Stendeback said. “Safety has to be top priority for me as a parent … I believe in the Police Department, and I think they do everything they can with the resources they have, but this is something that is beyond their capacity to stop, and I feel like it’s a very slippery slope for all of Alton.
“Right now it's in our ward, right now it’s our fight - but believe me, if it’s not fought, it will be in everyone’s. We can take Granite City for an example. Granite City has had multiple, it’s on the website, you can see it.”
According to the Oxford Houses of Illinois Directory, Granite City has a total of 10 Oxford Houses, the first of which was chartered in 2001 and the most recent of which was chartered in February of this year.
Resident Margaret Hopkins said the Oxford House borders her and her husband’s property on two sides. After someone on the Oxford House property informed her of its purpose, she notified Alderman Raymond Strebel, who said he was just as surprised as she was.
“I immediately called my alderman, Ray Strebel, to explain what I had learned, and he was unaware of the situation and was equally shocked,” Hopkins said. “This company, Oxford House, has moved in in the darkness of night and perpetrated a direct assault on the sanctity of our neighborhood … we and our neighbors were given no notice, no chance to comment or ask questions.”
After public comments concluded, Mayor David Goins asked the public speakers to “stay tuned” for their concerns to be addressed.
“We would encourage you to just stay tuned, we will be addressing all your concerns, and then we’ll be forthcoming with a decision and information based on these concerns that have been addressed,” Mayor Goins said.
After voting on a series of unrelated items, the City Council then went into closed session. While that session was closed to the public, Strebel and the city’s corporate attorney, Tonya Genovese, indicated what would be discussed during the Committee of the Whole meeting earlier this week.
At that meeting on Monday, Strebel said he had emailed Genovese about a zoning violation at the same address as the Oxford House. Strebel said he had been receiving several phone calls from residents of his ward about the property in question, and Alderwoman Carolyn MacAfee added residents of her nearby ward were “up in arms” about the situation.
Strebel asked Genovese if there had been any developments on the situation, and Genovese said it may unfold into a “legal battle” which has been affecting other communities as well.
“We’ve talked to a lot of other communities, they’re in the same situation, the legal battles that they’ve been dealing with, the legal battles that we might be dealing with, and I would prefer instead of talking about this in open session today, put it on for Wednesday,” Genovese said.
According to the Oxford House Frequently Asked Questions page, "the 1988 Amendments to the Federal Fair Housing Act prohibit discrimination against handicapped individuals. This prohibition requires local governments to make a reasonable accommodation in their zoning laws to enable handicap individuals to effectively deal with their disability."
A full recording of the Sept. 27 meeting, including more public comments, is available at the top of this story, on the RiverBender.com Facebook page, or on RiverBender.com/video.
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