Plan to convert former New Derry elementary school into treatment center brings opposition

A Uniontown-based drug and alcohol treatment provider’s rumored plan to convert the former elementary school in New Derry into a rehabilitation facility has received a wave of backlash from residents and public officials.

Westmoreland Commissioners even approved a resolution Thursday to oppose the project.

Residents and township officials say Angel’s Light Addiction Specialists is in negotiations to buy the school and open a treatment clinic. The school has been closed since 2011. In 2014, the building was sold to Wicklow Logistics, an oil and gas drilling company.

Officials with Angel’s Light declined comment. Wicklow Logistics could not be reached for comment.

Derry Township Supervisor David Slifka said the township has received complaints from residents living near the property. Residents are concerned that once Angel’s Light owns the building, it will be converted into an addiction treatment facility, Slifka said.

A group of about 20 residents have united to stop the facility from opening. Members have reached out to local leaders, getting resolutions to oppose the facility from township supervisors and school board members. Some of the team members have encouraged local businesses to write letters to local leaders as well.

“We are not against drug and alcohol programs,” said township resident Gib Stemmler, 75. “We know that there is a need for these facilities. We can see the need. We just don’t want it in the middle of a neighborhood with a school, day care, park and a baseball field within walking distance.”

Located on a sometimes busy street, the property is surrounded by houses with an entrance to a neighborhood just across Pittsburgh Road. Local children ride their bikes through the property to get to the baseball field behind it. There is a pizza shop next door and a few other local businesses on nearby streets.

“(Residents) also worry because (the building) is close to ball fields and playgrounds, and because Derry Township doesn’t have its own police force,” Slifka said.

Stemmler, a former alcohol and drug counselor, said he would not recommend this type of program in any residential area. He said that Derry is especially vulnerable since there is no public transportation for discharged patients.

The township does not have its own police force, and depends on state police in Kiski, stationed about 30 minutes away.

Slifak said that the supervisors’ “hands were tied” during the process due to the township’s lack of zoning.

Angel’s Light leaders have been working with the Pennsylvania Department of Drug and Alcohol Programs and Westmoreland Drug and Alcohol Commission to gain the proper licenses needed for the facility to open, local officials said.

Representatives from Angel’s Light attended a recent public meeting with residents to hear concerns and answer questions, but Stemmler said that they walked out before the meeting was over, leaving many residents with unanswered questions.

“There is a need for (more treatment facilities) but it’s just the location that is a concern,” Slifka said. “Westmoreland and the state support the project and they went through the rules and regulations process with (Angel’s Light) to make it happen.”

Slifka said that as long as the company adheres to state regulations, there is not much that the supervisors can do to stop the treatment center from opening.

“I think that the … state can do better when deciding where to put this facility,” Slifka said. “It could still be in Derry, but we would prefer it in a less developed area, or just out of a residential area.”

Westmoreland Commissioners decided to oppose the plan after hearing the concerns from the community. Their move came at the request of local leaders and residents, according to Commissioner Sean Kertes.

“We’re not opposed to a halfway house in New Derry, it’s just the location of this project,” Kertes said.

Commissioner Gina Cerilli Thrasher conceded that projects such as the one proposed in Derry are needed, but suggested the site is not appropriate.

“We definitely support this facility in general but our opposition is just because it’s in a residential area,” Thrasher said. “It’s in a residential area with lots of kids.”

This story was updated July 14 to correct Gib Stemmler’s age.