MENOMINEE — The Catholic Social Services of the Upper Peninsula was met with pushback from homeowners on 14th Avenue, Tuesday during the Menominee Planning Commission meeting. They voiced their concerns about the charity’s plan to purchase a home and turn it into a recovery house for women seeking to overcome addiction.
The CSSUP has made an offer to purchase the home at 1717 14th Ave., but the homeowner next to the home is not happy about the pending sale.
Currently, CSSUP has three recovery houses in the Upper Peninsula, which are state licensed. There are five residents in each home, and the average stay is 2.5 months. Last year the homes served more than 73 residents.
Kerri Moilanen lives next to the home that CSSUP wants to purchase and said that the sale will drive down her home’s value and make the neighborhood less safe. She has lived there for six years and said that if the sale goes through, she will attempt to move.
“I certainly don’t want to live next to that kind of environment and I know I should have compassion for them but it’s affecting my property value and my safety and security, too,” she said. “I don’t know what’s going to be happening there. They’re recovering; they’re not recovered.”
Homeowner Leah Buyarski lives directly across the street from the house CSSUP plans to purchase and she said that she shares Moilanen’s fears. She said that she is afraid of how this could affect her children’s safety and that of the neighborhood. She added that recovery is a lifetime endeavor and that no one can guarantee that the women in the home won’t relapse. She said if a resident were to relapse it may put her children in jeopardy.
Additionally, Moilanen said the neighboring home on the opposite side of the property is owned by multiple homeowners who grow marijuana plants. She said they all have at least 12 plants each.
“In the summer, when it gets warm in there, they vent it directly to my neighbor’s house that they’re talking about buying,” she said. “You can’t even be in the backyard when they’re venting it. The smell, it’s well-known. This is directly next door to the proposed group home for recovering addicts.”
The home is not a sanctioned grow facility, however the city manager’s assistant Sandra Bayerl said it is legal for residents to grow the plant and many do in that neighborhood.
Moilanen also said that she recently consulted her property’s survey and noticed that the neighboring property does not meet the R2 zoning requirements. She brought that concern to the planning committee.
“It’s a very large home on a very tiny lot,” she said. “That home is actually 2 feet, 6 inches from my property line. It’s very close to my home and I know there’s going to be residents there that will be outside, right near my back patio, and I have concerns about that.”
The City of Menominee Code Enforcement and Zoning Officer, Mike Scholle, told Moilanen during the meeting that the property is non-conforming and that as such CSSUP can still move forward with their plans for the home.
Neighborhood residents asked the CSSUP representatives if the recovery house would be staffed full-time and whether the residents would be monitored continuously. One of the home’s directors, Katie Sjogren, said that she is typically at the home she manages from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. When she is not there, one of the senior residents takes on the role of an assistant and manages the home and its residents. The same framework will apply to the home in question.
The recovery houses CSSUP runs seek to equip their residents with daily living skills and help them establish meaningful and healthy relationships while overcoming addiction. Sjogren said it is a sober house and residents who come there are already sober. The residents are made to participate in daily and weekly relapse groups.
“This has been an 18-month process,” said CSSUP Director Kyle Rambo. “Menominee was always the main focus and that’s because of the lack of resources for addiction treatment and recovery in Menominee.” He said Tuesday that if the house does not get purchased, the state will use the money to fund another such home in the Lower Peninsula.
He said residents often come to the homes by way of recommendations from their probation or parole officers, or upon referrals from in-patient programs or treatment courts. The homes are funded through Michigan’s Opioid settlements, the Michigan Supportive Housing Development Authority, Northcare Network and independent donations.
“There is an addiction epidemic still going on,” Rambo said. “The opportunity to help Menominee is incredible an I wish we could have done it sooner.”
Rambo said that the most important number to look at is the number of residents that suffered overdose deaths or incarcerations last year.
“Zero,” he said. “That’s 73 people who were seriously struggling with addiction and had probably overdosed... or been incarcerated... burned every bridge and were facing, I would say, a near death experience.
That’s 73 residents that were saved and they’re on their way. They’re still doing well. If we can help a few in Menominee, then I think it will definitely be worth the investment.”
When asked during the meeting how many residents relapse, Sjorgen said she had one resident relapse last month. She said that she understands the homeowners’ fears but feels that once the home is up and running, they will change their minds about the house altogether.
Chairman Brian Nutter said the committee is not required to take any action on the pending purchase and that the meeting was more to inform the community of CSSUP’s plans. The matter is not set to come before the city again, as CSSUP is legally able to move forward with their offer.
The Michigan Alliance for Recovery Residences recently recognized CSSUP as October’s ‘Operator of the Month,’ noting that the home’s they run are clean and well-monitored.
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