NORFOLK CSB NOW PLANS THIRD GHENT LOCATION
NEXT TO ABC LIQUOR STORE AND ACROSS FROM OPERA HOUSE
CSB Doubling Space and Further Concentrating Services in Ghent
Moving Services Away from CSB Patients
CSB Officials revealed this week plans to further expand services in Ghent far in excess of what has been previously disclosed to City Council and the neighborhood. These plans appear to confirm that the Norfolk CSB is, indeed, moving forward with its plans for a “Ghent Campus” and concentrating its mental health, psychiatric and substance addiction services in our neighborhood.
It was confirmed this week that the CSB plans to lease the “Ghent Center Building” which is adjacent to the VA ABC Liquor Store across the street from the Harrison Opera House and near Ghent Square homes. The CSB’s plans include relocating its “Medical Services Unit” and other adult services to the “Ghent Center Building” including the Adult Psychiatric Outpatient Unit, pharmacy, and adult addiction and other clinical services. CSB officials have estimated that the site would see 6500 patient appointments annually in the facility at 129 West Virginia Beach Blvd. According to City Assessor records, the building has 29,800 Sq. Ft. The Medical Services Unit including the Adult Psychiatric Outpatient Unit and CSB Pharmacy is currently located on E. Virginia Beach Boulevard close to the new Union Mission Campus.
This would be the third CSB relocation into the Ghent area and all relocations lacked any public notice, hearings or process of community input, prior to these unilateral decisions being made by the CSB. This plan would make Ghent the location of half of all Norfolk CSB facilities with the two largest facilities being in Ghent and serving a large majority of all CSB’s patients.
The Ghent Center is just steps away from the CSB’s 35,000 square foot “Ghent Flagship” building at 225 W. Olney Road, which is across the street from Ghent Montessori School, Chrysler Museum of Art and homes. This new site is in addition to the previously announced Crisis Intervention Unit slated to move to Ghent from its current site on Tidewater Drive near Southern Shopping Center.
Between the three locations, CSB will have nearly 75,000 square feet of space in Ghent, where just 36 months ago there was none.
This announcement was made by the CSB despite the CSB’s agreement with Council members and the neighborhood for a moratorium on any further actions to expand or relocate services in and into the Ghent area.
The Ghent Center Building is in the D-4 “Cultural and Convention Center District” which per the Norfolk Zoning Ordinance permits offices, retail and residential development, however, the emphasis is “to promote uses that relate to the arts, visitors and entertainment.” and that “(a)ll uses listed as permitted in the D-4 district shall be permitted only after review and approval pursuant to the provisions set forth in section 8-0.8”, which outlines a process of Planning Commission action and approval by City Council.
This plan for a third building in Ghent was not disclosed to City Council during the CSB’s presentation to Council last summer. CSB officials are now saying that this relocation is part of its previously undisclosed plan to close the 5,000 square foot Roland Park facility, citing the need for “bathroom repairs and other improvements” as a primary factor in CSB’s the decision to leave that location.
This proposed plan would mean that the Ghent area would have three CSB sites including the two largest with only three other additional sites encompassing the entire rest of the city. This plan would move and expand services in the Ghent neighborhood which already has far in excess of its fair share of outreach and social service programs and, more over, these proposals move services away from areas which are closer to where CSB’s patients live.
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