Monadnock Peer Support’s hopes to move to a larger space on Court Street hit a major roadblock Monday night, when Keene’s Zoning Board of Adjustment voted to deny the special exception the plan depends on.
The Keene nonprofit agency, which now operates out of a building on Beaver Street, is under contract to purchase the former Woodward Home assisted-living facility property at 194-202 Court St.
The board denied the request in part because members felt it failed the criteria of not lowering property values.
MPS, which offers mental health support services, has outgrown its current facility and wants to move into the bigger space so that it can accommodate more programming. That includes several peer support programs and an expanded respite program with five overnight spots — two for a weeklong program and three for a two- to three-month program.
MPS offers free peer support groups, one-on-one peer support, a youth peer support program and a 24/7 peer crisis respite program for people with conditions such as depression, anxiety, bipolar disorder or trauma-related disorders. The respite program, which is voluntary and serves adults, is free to participants and is an alternative to going to a psychiatric hospital. In MPS’s current facility, people can stay in the respite program for up to six nights.
Executive Director Peter Starkey said last month that providing temporary lodging in a facility like MPS might cost around $1,000 for a week, whereas the average stay in a New Hampshire hospital for three or four weeks can be as much $100,000.
However, MPS’s contract to buy the former Woodward property requires the agency to get zoning board approval for its proposed operations. Group homes are allowed in medium-density districts, like this part of Court Street, only by special exception. The board voted 4 to 1 to deny the request after more than two hours of discussion during Monday’s meeting, held via Zoom.
“We are incredibly saddened by the decision of the ZBA,” Starkey said after the meeting. “We are saddened about the characterization made about people with mental health [disorders] as something that could decrease property values, when we feel that the mission and work of MPS adds incredible value to the community, to the neighborhood and to all citizens of Keene.”
While several members of the public spoke in support of the proposal, more spoke against it. As Starkey noted, the impact on property values was a recurring concern among those who voiced opposition.
James and Judith Putnam’s Court Street home is next door to the former Woodward facility. They both submitted letters to the board outlining their concerns, and also spoke during Monday’s meeting about some of them, including how MPS’s plans would affect property values, traffic and parking.
“Parking is very limited on the premises, so most of the clients would require parking on Court Street,” Judith Putnam said during the meeting. “This is a residential neighborhood and a heavily traveled main street. Adding significant parking adds to the hazards of driving, biking, emerging from a driveway or side street, or even crossing Court Street.”
Others raised concerns about whether clients would be showing up in severe psychiatric distress. Starkey explained that MPS’ services are designed for people experiencing some sort of crisis in their lives who need support, but not necessarily medical intervention. The services are not for people in acute psychiatric distress who need to be hospitalized, though Starkey has said peer respite can prevent someone from getting to that point.
Some residents were worried that MPS would expand its capacity, noting that the old Woodward building was designed to house far more people than the number MPS is proposing. Others were worried about children who live nearby.
Not everyone who spoke during the meeting was against the project. Maggie Rice, who said she lives around the corner from the property, said she was fully supportive of MPS’s plans for the building. She said the area is already populated with other businesses, adding that “nobody’s kids are playing ball in the middle of Court Street.”
“I’m disappointed in my neighbors who are being so unwelcoming to people who are seeking help,” she said. “Monadnock Peer Support and all the people they serve should have a home here.”
The zoning board weighed four criteria in determining whether to approve the request for a special exception. Members unanimously agreed that the plan met the criteria in terms of traffic requirements and that it had appropriate facilities (such as water and sewer access).
However, only one member, Jane Taylor, felt the request demonstrated that the project would not lower property values and was in line with similar uses in the area. Taylor was the only member of the board to vote in favor of approving the exception.
Starkey said MPS has several months to meet the requirements of its contract, and that the organization will now return to the drawing board to figure out its next move.
