BALLSTON-VIRGINIA SQUARE

Civic Association Newsletter

April/May 1997 - Volume 20, No. 6

DEMETER HOUSE LITIGATION

The Association has obtained a copy of a letter, however, that shows the President, Jim Kerr, Barcroft School and Civic League, requesting that the County Board hold new hearings on Demeter's use permit, as a result of information developed during this litigation. This letter is dated April 20, 1997, and follows for our members information.

It has been six months since the County Board issued a use permit for Vanguard Service's proposed Demeter House on South Sixth Street in Barcroft. Since then, new information has come to light as a result of a lawsuit filed by Barcroft neighbors against Demeter's proposal. The Barcroft School and Civic League believes this information cannot be ignored.

Therefore, the BSCL is requesting that the Board hold new hearings on Demeter's use permit. The new information not only raises serious concerns about whether the facility would jeopardize the safety of the neighborhood or whether the use is indeed compatible with a quiet residential area. It also raises unsettling questions about how forthcoming Vanguard was regarding its operations in the first place. Following are some examples of the discrepancies between what was presented last fall in the special use hearing and the facts that have come to light in trial proceedings and under court order:

• Prior to the use hearing, Arlington County Police initially recalled only two incidents requiring police response at the current Monroe Street facility since 1989. Then, they acknowledged there were actually 33 incidents since 1992. But Vanguard characterized the incidents as minor or not directly related to Demeter House itself. But a far different picture emerged when a court order forced police to release full reports on the incidents. Incidents included stalkings, fights between residents in which warrants on assault and battery charges were filed, clients defying court orders by walking away from the facility, threats from a visitor to "come back and spray the place" and a death threat delivered to a staffer by phone. None of these facts were revealed in the original use hearings.

• Vanguard at the special use hearing said that the male friends and husbands of Demeter clients are strictly forbidden from the premises. They claim that this policy is successfully enforced at the current Monroe Street location, and discounted complaints by some Demeter neighbors in the Monroe Street area. However, those same neighbors felt strongly enough about their complaints to give sworn testimony in court of frequent problems with multiple male visitors to Demeter, visitors who become abusive when confronted.

• Vanguard Executive Director Deborah Volz testified at the special use hearing that family members are allowed on the premises only to pick up and drop off children, clothing and goods. But in the pretrial "discovery" process, Ms. Volz contradicted her statements at the use hearing when she disclosed that family members regularly attend family therapy and pick up residents at Demeter House. Moreover, family therapy violates Vanguard's existing use permit for Monroe Street. The discrepancy and the apparent violation bear further scrutiny in a new use hearing.

• Ms. Volz in October said clients are always escorted when they leave the premises at the existing Monroe Street house. In court, Vanguard acknowledged that Monroe clients in fact leave without escort, both alone and with other clients. And they do so under an established "permission pass" policy. Why did it take a court case to bring this out?

• Trips to and from Demeter House would total about 19 a day, county staff said last October as they were addressing concerns about traffic. But in court, December upped the estimate to 36 or more trips daily. Shouldn't the Board reconsider the use permit in light of this fact?

• Vanguard repeatedly stressed the "therapeutic necessity" of having 18 adults at the facility. This board rejected a smaller, 16-adult program on this basis. Yet, in discovery Vanguard revealed that its average adult population over 44 months has been 8.77. There were 12 adults in only two of 44 months. A new use permit hearing should examine whether the population size is determined by the demands of therapy or the demands of paying a large new mortgage on the Sixth Street house.

No matter how careful the process, no decision can be made without the correct facts. The discrepancies in fact revealed here go to the heart of the issue: whether Demeter, as an institution that needs special permission to locate in a residential neighborhood, can operate without jeopardizing safety or damaging the value of the residential environment. Moreover, the discrepancies raise serious questions about whether Vanguard's portrayal of the facts is accurate when not made before a judge. In light of this, we believe the Board must review Demeter's permit. We ask the Board to consider this request at the earliest convenience.