Livingston business owners resist proposed assisted living facility. See details here

Livingston shop owners and nearby residents are resisting the possibility of an assisted living facility moving into the area.

Livingston, advertised as the "Town of Livingston," is an unincorporated community in Madison County near Flora. The area is dotted with restaurants and commercial businesses.

Rather than residential homes, Livingston is known for its rich entertainment scene, often hosting music festivals, farmers markets and weddings.

Chad Phillips, a charge nurse, and his wife Crystal Phillips, a real estate agent, want to add something different to the Livingston area: an assisted living facility called The Oaks.

The Oaks proposal includes a 15-bed facility, and its residents would include patients who cannot live on their own. The staff would include trained nurses and a five-to-one caregiver-to-resident ratio.

On Oct. 19, 2023, the Madison County Planning Commission recommended the Madison County Board of Supervisors approve the application.

Then, a group of Livingston property owners called for an appeal on this recommendation.

At Thursday's board meeting, there was a public hearing in which the appellants, represented by Flowood attorney Kevin Watson, and the Phillips family, represented by Jackson attorney Steve Smith, voiced their arguments.

The appellants also included the Graves family, the previous owners of the land that the Phillips now own, which sits off of Highway 22.

The public hearing lasted over two and a half hours. Several Livingston business owners and nearby residents voiced their opposition to the facility. Their main concern was that the facility would not fit the established character of Livingston.

Rita McGuffie, chair of the Mannsdale-Livingston Heritage Preservation Commission, said there are several incomplete items on the Phillips' proposal, including a "lack of information about landscaping and the elevations."

McGuffie said there were several other incomplete items but could not provide a definitive list at the time of Thursday's meeting.

Bridget Engle owns the Farmers Table Cooking School in Livingston, the second building built in that area about 10 years ago. She voiced concerns that the Oaks residents may not like the loud music from Livingston, which often has late night outdoor concerts.

Engle also said she is concerned that because the residents need assisted living, there will be ambulances coming by her business frequently.

Engle said she hopes the board will take Livingston business owners into consideration.

"We've had several things change out there already," Engle said. "I just want and hope that you guys will help us keep what we have started out there — those of us that have literally put everything into it.

"We have children running around from the candy store to the park. There's a park there and stragglers do come out there, and we don't need any additional worries about that area and about the community that we have already strived to get where we are."

Greta Mills is part of the Graves family who in 2007 sold the land that the Phillips family now owns, though it changed hands once before the Phillips bought it. At Thursday's meeting, Mills presented the board with a petition which she said had more than 400 signatures of people in the surrounding area who are against the proposed assisted living facility.

When Gerald Steen, board president, asked any citizens in favor of the facility to come forward and speak, no one approached the podium. Chad Phillips said after the meeting that there were some friends and family in attendance to show support, but he didn't ask them to prepare any statement since, to him, the issue seemed black and white.

From a legal standpoint, Watson's main argument for denying the proposal of the new facility was that, under the covenant set by the Graves upon the land's sale, all uses and improvements to the land for a period of 50 years past the sale must meet the standards of the MLHPC. Watson said the Oaks does not meet these standards.

Smith said the facility does meet these standards. Smith said the Oaks is a quasi-public facility which is allowed in every zoning district. He also said the proposed building would be two and half football field in length away from any other existing Livingston building.

After a long back and forth between the two attorneys, Chad Phillips approached the podium to address the board’s questions. Phillips gave an emotional speech, saying he did not understand the controversy surrounding his application.

"I'm from Madison. I grew up here. I love this area. Madison County is so special to me in so many ways," Phillips said. "All I want is to be an amazing asset to our community and serve our community with a need that they have... Since when did taking care of our seniors — disabled seniors — become so controversial? It hurts my heart because I love this community."

Phillips seemed to convince some board members with this speech, with District Five Supervisor Paul Griffin stating if Phillips had opened with his heartfelt argument, the matter would have been decided more quickly.

Still, the board members did not accept the application right away. The public hearing concluded with Steen requesting the MLHPC revisit their research in order to provide a clear argument as to why The Oaks would violate the character of the Livingston Township.

After the meeting, Phillips said after spending 10 years in hospital and ICU settings caring for elderly individuals in need of assisted living, he feels that God is now calling him to build The Oaks.

"We believe that they deserve a great quality of life to be close to their loved one and families because that's what gives them the most joy," he said.

Phillips said The Oaks will not disrupt the character of Livingston and its residents will, in fact, not find the concerts and restaurants a "disturbance but rather a welcomed attraction."

Phillips grew up in Madison and graduated from Madison Central in 2009. He and Crystal and their two children moved back here from New Orleans to start this facility.

Phillips's parents, Linda and Mike Phillips, sat in the back row of Thursday's meeting. During Chad's address to the board, Linda began to cry.

When asked why she got emotional, Linda said she had never been more proud of her son. She said she was disappointed at the backlash from the appellants.

"God brought him back home to make Madison a better place, and they're rejecting him" she said.

Mike has been a pharmacist for 54 years and said he's seen patients "from start to finish," so he understands the need for facilities like the Oaks.

"There's 15 families somewhere right this minute that need this facility open," he said.

Crystal said despite Thursday's dispute, she and her husband are confident the board will approve their application.

It is unclear whether the board will vote on the application during the upcoming Feb. 5 meeting, but the LMHPS will present their new argument on that day.

This article originally appeared on Mississippi Clarion Ledger: Livingston business owners resist proposed assisted living facility.