admin @ Tue, 2006-03-07 09:00
VESTAL - Residents along Noyes Road say they feel "blindsided" by the unannounced introduction of a group home for developmentally disabled residents and would have appreciated notification from Vestal town officials that such a structure was being built.
As early as next month, the home at 220 Noyes Road will become a group home managed by the state Office of Mental Retardation and Developmental Disabilities. It will house six people with developmental disabilities who will receive individualized care.
"My huge concern is that we weren't ever notified about it," said Lynne Calvey, who lives three doors from the home. "When I called the town, they all said nobody knew anything. They said it was a state thing and they can do whatever they want whenever they want wherever they want."
Calvey said she first found out about the home from her son, who overheard a classmate talking about it during a school bus ride. Unsure of the type of group home being built, Calvey said she grew concerned at the thought of maybe having sex offenders or juvenile delinquents as neighbors.
"There seemed to be no opposition or questions, so we lodged no particular action," he said. "If there was some controversy it would have surfaced and subsequently a meeting would have been scheduled. There were no requests coming from any source to do anything beyond our review."
Municipalities have 40 days to respond to the state's letter of intent to build. Municipalities can suggest alternative sites or object to the structure on the grounds the site is too saturated with similar buildings, said Deborah Sturm Rausch, OMRDD's director of public affairs.
Calvey said she welcomes the idea of a home that will help those with developmental disabilities, but takes issue with what she sees as secrecy.
"I just wish they would have asked or told us before my son finds out on a school bus," she said. "The only people that know anything are the people who stopped and asked the workers."
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