Decision expected Tuesday on contentious addiction recovery facility in New Berlin
The Milwaukee Rescue Mission’s expansion project is right now on hold as an opposition group appeals its zoning.
NEW BERLIN, Wis. —
The Milwaukee Rescue Mission’s proposal to build a drug and alcohol recovery facility in New Berlin has drawn opposition, with the city’s Board of Appeals set to decide on the project Tuesday.
The proposed site is a vacant wooded area located off Interstate 43 and Moorland Road in New Berlin. The nonprofit organization, which operates a Christian-based shelter and recovery program in Milwaukee, aims to expand its long-standing New Journey with a 57,000-square-foot facility in New Berlin to help more than 100 men at a time through voluntary addiction treatment.
“We’re just getting more guys coming from outside the city who need this help as well, so we’re looking for a place where we could expand it. It could be more of a regional resource, and you know, we found what we think is the perfect location in New Berlin,” Milwaukee Rescue Mission President and CEO Pat Vanderburgh told WISN 12 News Monday.
The New Berlin Plan Commission approved the land use for the facility in December, but the project faced backlash since January.
“I’m against this whole proposal,” one person said during a January meeting.
“It’s a little disappointing there wasn’t prior knowledge,” another person said during public comment.
The project is now on hold after a group called New Berlin Citizens United appealed the city’s decision to zone the property as a church.
“You stand by that zoning?” WISN 12 News asked Vanderburgh.
“Absolutely, I mean, you know, I think it’s clearly the function that we’re planning for that location,” Vanderburgh said.
Both sides have presented their arguments to the Board of Appeals, and the board is expected to make its decision Tuesday.
Vanderburgh expressed confidence in the proposed location, saying, “We’ll even hear people in the opposition say, ‘Hey, we get this is needed, but just not here.’ And you know, then the obvious response is, well, then where? Where are you going to put it? And we think that the location is so ideal because it’s not truly, it’s not in anybody’s backyard.”
The wooded area is in a business park and backs up to the interstate, with the closest home about half a mile away. However, New Berlin Citizens United has raised concerns about the zoning of the property and its potential impact on emergency resources.
Members of the opposition group declined to comment Monday.
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