Judge rules against Dorothy Fox Safety Alliance

A Clark County Superior Court judge has ruled against the Dorothy Fox Safety Alliance in its land-use appeal against the city of Camas, paving the way for the Discover Recovery substance abuse treatment and recovery facility to operate in Camas’ Prune Hill neighborhood.

Superior Court Judge Suzan L. Clark submitted her decision on Jan. 26, upholding “in all respects” a Camas hearings examiner’s decision to grant a conditional-use permit to the owners of Discover Recovery, a company hoping to open an inpatient substance abuse recovery center on a 2.39-acre Prune Hill property known as Fairgate Estates — a property that has been used as a bed and breakfast, wedding venue and, most recently, assisted living center.

Discover Recovery, which has operated a 40-bed, inpatient drug rehabilitation center in Long Beach, Washington, since 2018, applied for a conditional-use permit to operate at the Camas site on Jan. 21, 2021.

Within a few weeks of the company’s announcement, the DFSA’s anonymous founders built a website, insinuated online that future Discover Recovery patients might kidnap or murder children at the nearby Dorothy Fox Elementary School, circulated a petition opposing the drug rehab. formed an limited liability corporation, opened a GoFundMe to raise money for legal fees and placed “No Drug Rehab Next to Dorothy Fox” signs throughout the Prune Hill neighborhood.

On March 24, 2021, Camas Hearings Examiner Joe Turner held a public hearing to consider Discover Recovery’s conditional-use permit application. The hearing drew 106 attendees and 27 people testified for and against the drug treatment center, with many opponents arguing the proposed use would be “materially detrimental to the public welfare.”

DFSA members voiced unfounded concerns during the March 24 hearing that Discover Recovery patients would leave the facility against medical advice and harm children in the neighborhood.

On April 28, 2021, Turner ruled Discover Recovery had complied with city code and should be granted a conditional-use permit.

The hearings examiner also set a few additional rules in his decision, including 24-hour surveillance of all patients; routine bed checks at 30-minute intervals; criminal background checks on all patients; a 6-foot solid fence around the property; no admittance for sex offenders or any patient who had been convicted of a violent crime or been court-mandated to seek treatment for their substance-abuse disorder; annual meetings with city, school and neighborhood representatives; and reporting to Camas police if a patient leaves against medical advice.

The extra requirements, however, did not sway the facility’s opponents.

In May 2021, the DFSA filed a request for reconsideration and proposed even more conditions they would like to see connected to the conditional-use permit, including a requirement that Discover Recovery have a security guard posted at the facility at all times and more frequent meetings with city and neighborhood representatives.

Turner denied the petition for reconsideration on May 24, 2021. A few months later, the DFSA, led by attorney Brian Lewallen, filed an appeal in Clark County Superior Court through the state’s Land Use Petitions Act (LUPA), asking the court to review the city of Camas’ hearings examiner’s decision.

On the group’s website, DFSA members said they believed the group’s best chance of overturning Turner’s decision was to take the issue to superior court.

“Unlike the Hearings Examiner assigned to this case, a Superior Court Judge will carefully consider ALL evidence and arguments in this case before making a ruling,” the group wrote on its website.

Camas City Councilmember Leslie Lewallen, then a candidate for city council, wrote about the issue on her campaign site in the summer of 2021, stating: “My husband, Brian Lewallen, is the pro-bono attorney representing these citizens in their lawsuit against the City to stop this tragedy from taking place. My sister, Stephanie, is also co-counsel on the case. Last week, they filed a 50-page opening brief in Clark County Superior Court to reverse the decision of the hearing examiner. In this brief, they map out more than 60 errors committed by the Hearing Examiner.”

Clark, however, ruled the DFSA had failed “to show that the examiner did anything but weigh the evidence and reach a decision based on the evidence.”

“The examiner clearly sets forth his reasoning and the evidence supporting it in his decision,” Clark wrote in her Jan. 26 ruling. “The examiner’s decision is affirmed in all respects.”

Clark also ruled the DFSA’s claim that the city had violated its members’ due process rights was unproven: “DFSA fails to meet its burden of showing that it was deprived of life, liberty or property, without due process of law,” Clark wrote. “The strong level of participation in the process by the DFSA and the public at large indicates that adequate notice was given. DFSA and the public had an ample opportunity to be heard, as demonstrated by the record. … DFSA has failed to establish any deprivation of cognizable property right protected by the constitutional due process guarantees.”

The DFSA contended the city had engaged in an unlawful procedure during Discover Recovery’s pre-application process, arguing there were missing communications between the city and Discover Recovery between October and December 2020, despite available public records showing otherwise.

City of Camas staff initially told Discover Recovery representatives they would likely need to go through a process involving public hearings before the city council since they wanted to apply as  “residential treatment facility” — something not in the city’s code.

Discover Recovery’s representatives decided to go another route, arguing that, because the substance abuse treatment center intended to “provide full-time care and treatment for individuals seeking to recover from disorders in the abuse of drugs, alcohol and other substances,” the proposed use fell under the city’s definition of “nursing, rest or convalescent home,” listed as a conditional use in Camas’ R-12 zones.

The state of Washington defines a convalescent home as a facility that “maintains and operates 24-hour skilled nursing services for the care and treatment of chronically ill or convalescent patients, including … alcoholism.”

Applying as a “convalescent home,” a permitted conditional-use under Camas city code, Discover Recovery no longer needed to go through the public hearings process to have “residential treatment facility” added as a conditional-use. They did, however, still need to get a conditional-use permit to operate a convalescent home in the former assisted living center.

That was the issue Turner tackled in the spring of 2021, when he ruled in favor of granting Discover Recovery a conditional-use permit. Judge Clark upheld that decision in her recent ruling, stating that, “because the proposed use meets the definition of a convalescent home, a (conditional-use permit) was the appropriate procedure.”

The DFSA wrote on the group’s website on Jan. 28, that they believed Judge Clark “unfortunately upheld the flawed and ‘end-justifying-the-means’ decision by the Hearings Examiner … (in a) tough and complicated case.”

“As this is no longer under litigation, there is no legal reason why the city council cannot talk with citizens about what happened,” the group stated on its website on Jan. 28.

The city’s communications director, Bryan Rachal, said last week that the city is waiting to see if the DFSA will appeal Clark’s decision before commenting on the case.

“There is a 30-day period following the entry of Judge Clark’s ruling, during which DFSA may appeal to the Court of Appeals,” Rachal said.

The DFSA raised nearly $30,000 through GoFundMe to pay for legal fees.

The city of Camas has spent $10,525 on attorney’s fees related to the case, according to Rachal.

For more coverage of the Discover Recovery center and the Dorothy Fox Safety Alliance, read the following articles on The Post-Record online:

Substance abuse treatment and recovery center proposed for Camas

Not in Our Backyards: Prune Hill neighbors band together to fight drug rehabilitation center

Camas to hold hearing on substance abuse treatment and recovery center

Hearings examiner OKs Discover Recovery permit

Drug rehab opponents file petition for reconsideration

Prune Hill neighbors head to court over drug rehab