Recovery Point Bluefield schedules grand re-opening at former Salvation Army site

Sep. 26—BLUEFIELD — Recovery Point West Virginia has scheduled a grand re-opening for its new Bluefield location, which is the former Salvation Army site on Highland Avenue.

Recovery Point, a long-term recovery residence currently located on Preston Street, acquired the former Salvation Army building two years ago. The organization has scheduled a grand re-opening and open house at the site for Monday, Oct. 2, from 1 to 5 p.m.

"We are almost finished with the renovations," Joshua Farmer, director of Recovery Point Bluefield, said Monday of the ongoing renovations inside of the former Salvation Army building.

As part of the open house event, Recovery Point will offer tours, COVID-19 testing and vaccines, as well as gift cards and door prizes. Farmer said the public is invited to participate in the event.

During the open house, members of the community will be able to view all of the renovations made to the former Salvation Army building.

"We had to do some remodeling on the inside," Farmer said. "It's been kind of a two-year process."

The plan is to relocate all of the beds, office equipment and related items from the existing site to the new Highland Avenue site before the end of the year. Everything would have to be moved at the same time, according to Farmer.

The long-term recovery residence provides a method of treatment in a peer-driven 12-step model. It provides several recovery programs for individuals suffering from a substance use disorder.

According to the Recovery Point West Virginia website, the agency provides hope and healing to individuals and families suffering from and impacted by addiction through a peer-based recovery model and customized mental health services to build new lives and stronger communities.

Recovery Point opened in Bluefield in 2015, and began as a 20-bed facility. It's now a 60-bed men's recovery center. The new location on Highland Avenue could provide room for additional beds in the future.

"They live in house," Farmer said of the participants. "Starting out it will be the same number, but later on if we get more funding for more beds we will be able to expand a little bit."

Farmer said the men living at Recovery Point provide service work to the community as part of the recovery process. For example, they recently helped with all of the work at Mitchell Stadium in advance of the Beaver-Graham contest.

"We call it service work," Farmer said. "It's just a part of the program where there is no money exchanged. It's just our guys giving back to the community."

The building will still be largely empty during the Oct. 2 tours since beds and equipment have not yet been relocated to the site.

"The kitchen will be ready where we can provide food for the event," Farmer said. "All of our guys will be there as well. We would love to have some of the community there."

There are no current city ordinances or codes that would prohibit Recovery Point from relocating to the former Salvation Army site. Such group residential facilities fall under Chapter 8-A, Article 11, Section 2 of the West Virginia State Code, which would supersede any city or county ordinances, according to City Attorney Anthony Heltzel.

"State code is what prevents us from being able to do any type of zoning ordinances that affect these residential facilities," Heltzel said.

One unusual aspect of Recovery Point Bluefield's new home is the fact that it is also located directly adjacent to an existing medical marijuana dispensary facility. A doctor's prescription is required to receive medical marijuana at that site.

Heltzel said he isn't aware of any existing state restrictions that would prohibit a residential recovery facility from operating within close proximity to a medical marijuana dispensary facility.

"As far as I'm aware there have been no restrictions set by West Virginia code as it relates to a treatment facility being close to a medical marijuana facility," Heltzel said.

Heltzel said Recovery Point received a permit from the city to begin remodeling work inside of the old Salvation Army last year.

"They are a well run facility," Heltzel said of Recovery Point, adding that the facility was often recommended by the court when he served as an assistant prosecuting attorney.

Farmer said Suboxone and marijuana are not accepted as part of the Recovery Point process.

"It's not really an issue," Farmer said in reference to the adjacent medical marijuana dispensary facility

— Contact Charles Owens at cowens@bdtonline.com