Nov. 11—RUSSELL — The Russell City Building was packed to the gills Thursday evening for a county zoning meeting on whether or not to subdivide the Our Lady of Bellefonte Hospital campus to make way for a drug rehabilitation center.

The proposal before the Greenup County Joint Planning Commission would divide the campus into three portions — one tract containing the behavioral health unit at the bottom of the hill, another containing the hospital proper and the parking garage and a huge tract in the middle containing doctors' offices and the surgery center.

That middle portion would wrap around to include the sleep center as well.

Addiction Recovery Care — a Louisa-based treatment center company with more than 30 facilities throughout Kentucky — has been in talks for over a year with Mercy Health to buy the hospital proper to make way for a 300-bed facility and a psychiatric unit.

Under the subdivision proposal, Bellefonte LLC (under Mercy Health) would retain the middle portion.

At Thursday's meeting, Greenup Joint Planning Commission Chair Tom Saylor said the scope of the meeting was only for the subdivision and not for how it would be used.

No decision was rendered as a result of the hearing — while Saylor said by state law the commission could have the final say on splitting up the land, he said it had been the practice of the commission to submit a recommendation to city councils for final adoption.

In this case, it would be up to the City of Russell to decide.

Steve McGinnis, a local attorney and husband of Russell City Attorney Tracy Frye, asked the commission to vote against the proposal because the property is unique and could used for either a new hospital or "light manufacturing."

"This is a rare and unique piece of property and we shouldn't cut up this gem," he said.

Russell resident Amy Craft said she lives less than a mile from the old OLBH property and she worried about her kids walking to school near it.

"The board needs to consider not just the commercial impact, but the impact on the community," she said.

Physicians Abbe Cassity and Audrey Smith, who work at the same day surgery center, said they were concerned about power and HVAC service at their facility, because ARC would be buying a tract with the power supply.

Jessica Burke, general counsel of ARC, said part of the purchase agreement included a utility agreement that would require uninterrupted service.

Dr. Kirti Jain also said holding out for another community hospital would benefit Russell more, as the hole left when Bellefonte closed in early 2020 has "eroded the community feeling."

Saylor said to his understanding, Mercy Hospital will not entertain the purchase of the hospital by another hospital group.

Frye then stood up and asked for the commission to vote no to the subdivision, stating there is still hope for another hospital to come there.

"Seeing what they did to this town, I know the right amount of money will speak to them," she said.

Dawn Lemaster, a former nurse at Bellefonte who is now working at King's Daughter's Medical Center, said other medical offices could be established, such as a surgery facility or even a nursing home.

"I just don't think what's proposed is a good fit for the community," she said.

Brenda Martin said she hoped for a middle-of-the-road solution, where ARC could have operations there while something better came along.

Chuck Jachimczuk, of Russell First Baptist Church, cleared the air that his church "did not support ARC."

"We are not against it, but we are not for it," he said, after alleging someone had said his church had shown support.

Russell Mayor Ron Simpson said he had meetings with the church and Bridges Christian Church and was given the impression they supported the project.

"I am the moderator of the business meetings there and I can't make it any clearer, the First Baptist Church does not support it," Jachimczuk said.

Rich Goddard, a counselor with ARC, said he heard people worry about safety, but said ARC makes society safer by leading people to recovery.

"I've seen people not die anymore," he said.

That prompted Frye to get up and ask if comments about ARC were allowed, since Goddard spoke on it.

Saylor said no.

Russell councilman Ryan Biederman grequested they open the meeting for a broader discussion on ARC. Saylor denied the request.

"The planning commission looks at KRS (Kentucky Revised Statutes) and the Russell subdivision and zoning regulations," he said. "These 'not in my backyard' arguments don't really count. That's just how it is."

That prompted Craft to once again bring up the safety of the community — Saylor asked this question:

"I've heard all this 'I live a mile away,'" he said. "Do the children walk past the facility?"

Craft said they do not, but people could leave the facility and walk into the neighborhoods.

"These are not all safe people, they come from cities," she said.

Greenup County has one of the highest per-capita overdose rates in the Commonwealth.

The meeting then devolved into allegations about Louisa turning to pot on account of ARC, people leaving the facilities willy-nilly and winding up at Walmart — the Raceland City Manager said he was confused because he thought the plan all along was for ARC to buy the entire property, lock-stock-and-barrel.

John Wilson, Market President for ARC and Judge-Executive of Garrard County, tried to answer some of the questions levied, stating that rural hospitals are going out of business across the country and ARC is ready to put $8 million into the facility to get it up to code.

He said the vast majority don't leave and the court-ordered folks tend to stay the longest. Wilson vowed to hold a question-and-answer session "in the near future."

Following the meeting, Wilson addressed questions regarding safety with The Daily Independent, stating they take a multi-layer approach and will have visible security on site.

He said during the first 30 days, clients are under constant supervision and in the critical 72 hours from arrival — when people are the likeliest to skip out — they are assigned a "buddy" to keep an eye on them and show them the ropes.

He said with all the facilities ARC has run in the Commonwealth, there's never been a scenario where a mess of people left and wandered the streets looking for trouble.

"The folks coming here are in the community already," he said. "If we're treating this drug addiction, that's one less person on the street who is causing problems."

And in the event they decide to leave, Wilson said they are driven back to where they're from.

While Wilson said he wasn't around for when the talks first came about for ARC to move into the Bellefonte property, it was his understanding there was no interest on a part of the company to buy the spots occupied by the surgery center and the doctors' offices.

"We don't want to be in the landlord business," he said.

Two other officials with ARC confirmed that the intention of the rehab has always been to buy the hospital building and the psych unit, not the other facilities located on the campus.