During a regular meeting on Wednesday, November 16, 2022, the Boulder County Planning Commission received a request for a special use and site-specific development plan review. This would modify previous approval for a lodging to convert the existing structure to a group care home. The property is located about 0.3 miles west of the intersection of Boulder Canyon Drive and Fourmile Canyon Drive.

The property is zoned Forestry, and the applicants are John R. Vanderhart, manager of Vanderhart Real Estate LLC; and Michael Hunter, Sandstone Care Colorado LLC. The applicants requested a recommendation to the Board of County Commissioners for the special use review.

Boulder County Staff Planner Pete L’Orange submitted the request. John Vanderhardt said the new owner will have professional drivers and staff serving the area. This would be much safer than a tourist looking for a Bed and Breakfast, he added. Vanderhardt said he has owned the property since the 1990s and had managed it as a Bed and Breakfast for the last 30 years.

Now, he said, he is competing against smaller and leaner hotels. Sandstone provides a much better use for the premises. The building is up to code as of 1990, although the building dates back more than 100 years.

Michael Hunter, CEO of Sandstone, said he has been working in the field of behavioral health since he was 21. In terms of programs in the field, he has seen a lot of variety.

Sandstone was founded on the idea that a lot of money gets pumped into large organizations struggling to exist. This proposed facility is not at the level of hospitalization; management will be screening out some who apply. But the programs are local and designed for those living near the facility.

For primary mental health services, there is no residential level of care for adolescents. Those utilizing services will have to attend school. “Our team is comprised of folks who are passionate, [who have] small track and cohort methods for treating adolescents and young adults.” They expect to have resources for acute problems, rather than those for mid-level disorders.

Commissioners asked about safety of the clients and the staff, and about the possibility of clients running away. Hunter said he already has a facility near Pikes Peak in Colorado Springs, where they don’t see a high level of patients leaving. They screen their patients and do not treat court-ordered clients. He has two houses in Colorado Springs for which he had to go through a rezoning process. He received no objection from neighbors.

Hunter said the home is intended for mild to moderate behavioral issues such as anxiety, depression, and mild forms of trauma,

Residence will be entirely voluntary. Patients are not admitted if they don’t agree to the facility’s terms of service. Length of stay is 30 to 45 days, with more than 60 percent being admitted to outpatient services and a period of stabilization.

The company has two different levels of care, partial hospitalization and day treatment. “We work with schools and we have a teacher on staff,” Hunter said.

Accessibility, he said, is one of our core values, with over 80 percent of patients utilizing someone’s primary insurance. That is an element of our program we are working on consistently.

Three neighbors signed up virtually to address the question of a group home in the area. They had submitted in writing 11 questions that should be answered. The Board asked if Hunter would meet with the neighbors to answer their questions.

The Planning Commission approved recommending to the Boulder County Commission that the special use permit be approved with conditions.

For more information go to: https:// pub-bouldercounty.escribemeetings.com/.