CONCERNS RAISED AT PUBLIC HEARING FOR FURTHER EXPANSION OF BLUEBONNET HAVEN
A public hearing Wednesday concerning another expansion of capacity at the Bluebonnet Haven Residential Treatment Center has some worried about the facility’s future plans.
Washington County officials met with representatives from Bluebonnet Haven and the state at the Salem Volunteer Fire Department to discuss the facility’s intent to raise the number of residents it is licensed to house.
Bluebonnet Haven co-owner Randall Bryant said the facility seeks to raise its licensing capacity to 64, but will not house more than 48 residents.
The facility previously had two homes that were licensed to hold 32 but only held 24, 12 in each house. It has since built two more homes. It most recently held a public hearing August 10th to increase the capacity from 32 to 36.
Sheriff Otto Hanak presented concerns about the expansion, stating he is “totally against” the increase of bed numbers. While he was not opposed to the increase in capacity at the public hearing in August, he said he is opposed now because there is “no end [in] sight for expansions,” calling it “a trust matter.” He said while police calls have not overwhelmed his office yet, the potential for problems rises with the number of people at the facility. He said “this appears to be nothing but a money-making venture and quite frankly, there are 253 other counties available for facilities such as this, so why here?”
County Judge John Durrenberger, however, said "they're doing exactly what they said they'd do," and that there "seems to be little opposition."
Bryant assured that the facility does not plan to expand resident capacity beyond this.
KWHI was not contacted directly about this public hearing before it occurred. According to Bryant, a notice of the public hearing was posted in the classifieds in the October 20th edition of the Brenham Banner-Press. According to Durrenberger, there appeared to be only one person from the public at the hearing.