Centerstone looks at land rezoning for possible future expansion

As they wrap up one expansion, Centerstone of Florida is already looking toward the future, which could include another expansion.

In March, Centerstone began an expansion of the children’s unit of the Crisis Stabilization Unit, adding five beds and 20,000 square feet in a $3 million budget. It was described by Centerstone’s CEO, Melissa Larkin-Skinner, as “an expansion of the men’s and women’s areas as well as a completely new children’s wing.”

Larkin-Skinner said Thursday that expansion will likely be ready by the end of July.

Even though this project is nearly complete, Centerstone is looking toward their next step to “meet the needs of the community,” Larkin-Skinner said.

In a Thursday meeting, the Manatee County Planning Commission recommended approval of a general development plan of the proposed expansion of Centerstone as well as a rezone for the southern portion — roughly six acres — of the site from Residential Single Family to Planned Development Public Interest.

Though it’s about five to 10 years into the future, the idea is to potentially build another psychiatric hospital that also will be used for detoxing from substance and alcohol abuse.

The possible expansion would add 73,829 square feet and 100 beds to the facility, bringing Centerstone’s total to 150,000 square feet and a 200-bed facility, according to Planning Commission documents.

“What we need more than anything is beds for people to come in and safely detox from substances,” Larkin-Skinner said. “And we’ve seen an increased need for psychiatric stabilization as well.”

One of the issues Centerstone faces is their facility is often full. They then send people to other facilities, including some outside of the county, to detox.

“We don’t necessarily like to do that because we want people to get care in their own community,” Larkin-Skinner said.

She added they are taking steps now to plan for the future, to meet the community’s needs.

Larkin-Skinner pointed to the recent death of an actor in the HBO series “True Blood” to shed light on the need for safe detoxing. Nelsan Ellis, who portrayed Lafayette Reynolds in the show, was attempting to detox from alcohol alone when he died, family of the actor said in a statement through Ellis’ manager Emily Gerson Saines, according to NPR.

But Gerrie Stanhope, president of No Longer Silent, a Manatee County group dedicated to giving a voice to drug overdose victims and their family members, said these beds are needed sooner rather than later.

“We need it five years ago, not five years ahead,” Stanhope said.

Stanhope has lost several people close to her to addiction, and said those who are turned away when beds are unavailable are “just lost.”

“Unfortunately, it seems to me, that there are people that can go to (Narcotics Anonymous) and get better that way, but with the stuff people are on today, that just doesn’t cut it. They need to detox and people are dying waiting to get into detox.”

But it’s still very early in the process. They’re not to the design stage yet and are still looking at funding options.

“We’ve been talking about it for a long time, so we knew this is what we need to do,” Larkin-Skinner said. “If and when we build something, we want it to be state of the art.”

“It’s well needed, they know that,” Stanhope said. “I’m glad to see they’re working on it. I don’t think anyone expected the epidemic to come up the way it has.”

This story was originally published July 13, 2017 at 7:06 PM with the headline "Centerstone looks at land rezoning for possible future expansion."