Construction of controversial Torino Addiction Treatment Campus in Port St. Lucie set to begin this fall

June 30--PORT ST. LUCIE -- The doctor in charge of a controversial drug detox facility in Torino that has faced fierce opposition from neighborhood residents said he expects construction on the multimillion dollar recovery center to begin this year.

Construction on phase one of Torino Addiction Treatment Campus is slated to begin sometime in October or November, said Stuart neurologist and addiction specialist Dr. Jose Toledo. Toledo, who heads up New Life Addiction Treatment Center in Port St. Lucie, will serve as medical director of the Torino campus. He hopes to open the $2 million building next year around October or November. Phase one is a 9,900 square-foot, one story, 30-bed detox center. Typically, patients stay in detox for five to seven days, Toledo said.

Plans for phase two -- a 14,000 square-foot, one-story sober home with 40 beds -- are not yet complete, Toledo said. Phase two is expected to cost between $4 million and $5 million, Toledo said. The facility will have a total of 70 beds upon completion.

Once the second building goes up, Toledo said he plans to consolidate all five of New Life's sober homes in the city into the Torino campus -- a total of 35 beds. The 35 beds are part of the plan approved by the City Council in March.

When Toledo first submitted plans for the project to the city last July, residents assembled in full force to rally against the center. They cited the project's density and an increase of crime as their concerns. Toledo's original phase-two plan consisted of a 20,000 square-foot, two-story group home with 80 beds. That was scaled down in response to residents, Toledo said.

Toledo applied for a special exception use for detoxification services. The City Council last year first denied the application and then reversed its decision several months later to settle a discrimination lawsuit filed by the project's developers. Under the Americans with Disabilities Act, the Federal Fair Housing Act and the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, recovering alcohol and drug addicts are considered disabled and denying them housing can be considered discriminatory, a violation of civil rights and illegal.

Federal laws aren't blocking dozens of angry Torino residents from forging on in their fight against the center. They recently met with congressional candidates for the District 18 seat and plan to back the candidate that promises to take their battle to the U.S. House. Residents also said they plan to rally behind candidates in local races that take up the cause of allowing cities more say in where detox centers are placed.

Toledo said the search for institutionally zoned land larger than three acres in Port St. Lucie, where New Life is located, turned up scant results, forcing him to choose the Torino property at Northwest East Torino Parkway and Northwest Zenith Drive. The Torino property is 3.93 acres.

"I would have preferred to be somewhere else (in the city) that's more isolated, but there isn't any land," Toledo said. "If we found a place in a more commercial area and it doesn't have the correct zoning, we'd have to go and try to rezone it and that's a 99 percent 'No.'"

Aside from the project's density, residents also voiced concerns over patients escaping from the facility. The chances a patient flees the facility on foot are slim to none, Toledo said.

"Nobody is going to leave the facility in their pajamas, running to rob the gas station," Toledo said. "That's just a myth in the movies."

Instances where patients want to leave treatment against medical advice are low, Toledo said. For example, in April and May, New Life had no patients who left their programs early. One checked out early in June to go home, Toledo said. Should a patient want to quit treatment early, arrangements will be made to take them home, Toledo said.

Only patients with crimes related to their addiction, such as a DUI, will be admitted, Toledo said. And no patients will be court-mandated.

"Nobody comes involuntarily," Toledo said.

Toledo said he expects patients from across the country to seek treatment at the Torino Campus because the center will advertise on the Internet.

Registered sex offenders will not be admitted, Toledo said, adding his facility will not treat sex addiction.

The center's name was to be "La Hacienda," but will likely stay "Torino Addiction Treatment Campus" because the name has caught on among residents and the press, Toledo added. Torino Campus will be a licensed medical facility, registered with the Florida Department of Children and Families and will employ 75 to 100 people, Toledo said. The center will accept all private insurance. Medicare and Medicaid will not be accepted, Toledo said. A 30-day stint in rehab usually costs approximately $6,000 to $7,000, Toledo said.

To ease residents' qualms about the project, Toledo said: "Think of it as a hospital. ... We're doing it for the greater good. We prevent death and subsequently crime."

Toledo stressed that residents must understand that centers like Torino Addiction Treatment Campus are vital to society and must be built.

"There's a drug epidemic in the U.S. People are dying everyday," Toledo said. "I've seen more deaths in this practice than neurology of people, especially young people, who didn't have to die."

A nagging question residents had for Toledo is: Would you want to live next to a detox facility? Toledo's answer is simple.

"I would, if it was run by me," he said.

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