An inpatient drug and alcohol treatment clinic is needed in Roanoke, but the city Planning Commission decided Monday that it should not be located in the Valley View Mall area.

In making its decision, the commission chose not to accept the planning staff’s recommendation for approval, and it sided with several who objected to the proposal, including unusual public opposition by the Roanoke Regional Chamber of Commerce.

On a 4-0 vote, the commission is recommending city council deny the request for the treatment facility in what would be a renovated building on the spur into the mall at 5060 Valley View Boulevard. It’s now an empty building, owned by Mar Roanoke LLC, that started as a Virginia Employment Commission office in 1994 and was later used for outpatient substance abuse treatment, which the current zoning allows. The rezoning would switch the land use designation from a commercial to an institutional use.

Eric Sichau, the chamber’s president and CEO, told the commission that the Valley View spur where the building sits is an important “welcome mat” into the predominant commercial center in the region. And while Sichau said the chamber realizes the need for the treatment service, “we just don’t believe that this is the highest and best use for this particular building.”

The project was also opposed by a group of hotels near the building. 

Brian Kearney, an attorney representing the company that owns the Best Western, Comfort Inn and MainStay Suites, took issue with numerous factors with the rezoning, including the city’s classification of the request as “regional housing services.”

“It makes no sense that you would use that phrase as part of a medical development,” he told the commission, later saying “it’s not a campus. It’s not institutional.”

Those involved with the project made the case that the use makes sense, particularly since the building’s history includes outpatient treatment. The inpatient facility, which would have 80 beds, would be secure and there would be far less traffic than an outpatient use, said Joaquin Luaces, a member of the ownership group. That’s because those treated at the facility would be there from 21 to 28 days and visitation would not be allowed. The business would also create healthcare jobs, he said.

Luaces said the ownership group has been “scouring” for a year and a half to try to find other uses for the building or a new buyer.

“We just can’t find someone,” he said. “So it’s either going to be an inpatient – or we’re going to try to pitch it out again as outpatient.”

Mar Roanoke LLC bought the 20,000-square-foot building in 2018 for $5.2 million, according to city real estate records. It is assessed for tax purposes at $4 million. The Marriott Corporation sold the property in 1994 to a now inactive company for $450,000, according to the city records.

Commission members asked numerous questions about the proposed clinic, including the possibility of patients — or visitors — causing incidents outside of such a facility, potentially endangering the public.

Michael Rothstein, who is working with Mar to get its proper licensing should the treatment facility move forward, said his company is involved with numerous similar uses in multiple states. Based on his experience, he said he could not remember any instance “where someone from the outside was banging on the doors to get in.”

Several commission members said they were voting against the request because the use simply does not fit with the commercial environment at Valley View.

“I view Valley View as a key asset – it’s not dead yet. It’s got some life in it,” said Adetoye Oshoniyi.

Betty Jean Wolfe said she realizes the treatment service is “extremely needed”and doesn’t believe patients would cause problems. However, she said she’s concerned that the institutional zoning in an otherwise commercial area would then follow the property, whether Mar owns it or not.

“And for that reason, the vote is no.”

The commission’s chairman, Frank Martin, abstained from the vote because he works for the real estate company that is marketing the Mar building.

City council is scheduled to consider the rezoning during a 7 p.m. meeting Monday.