Camas to hold hearing on substance abuse treatment and recovery center

A public hearing on a conditional use permit that would convert Camas’ Fairgate Estate from an assisted living center to a holistic, in-patient substance abuse treatment facility has been set for Wednesday, March 24.

The Camas hearings examiner will open the virtual hearing at 5 p.m. March 24. The public has until 5 p.m. Tuesday, March 16, to submit emailed or mailed comments they wish to be entered into the public hearing record.

The agenda for the virtual hearing, which will be held on Zoom, is available online at cityofcamas.us/yourgovernment/minuteagendavideo. Instructions on how to participate in the public hearing will be posted to the city’s website at least one week before the March 24 hearing.

At stake is the future of Fairgate Estates, a former bed and breakfast and wedding venue that was converted to a 15-bed assisted living center in 2014. 

Thomas Feldman and Christopher Paulson, co-founders of the Discover Recovery residential treatment center in Long Beach, Washington, have applied for a conditional use permit through the city of Camas to convert Fairgate Estate, located at 2213 N.W. 23rd Ave., into a 15-bed convalescent home for adult professionals seeking 30- to 90-day residential treatment for substance abuse disorders. 

“Fairgate Estate is a beautiful place,” Feldman told the Post-Record in February. “We were looking for a site closer to a larger city like Seattle or Portland — where there are more resources — and we thought this property was perfect. It is the right size, in a great location, and since it has been used as an assisted living facility for a long period … it won’t need any big improvements other than cosmetic changes.” 

The site is located next to Dorothy Fox Elementary School, in the city’s Prune Hill neighborhood. Some neighbors have expressed alarm in social media sites like NextDoor over a proposal to site a residential treatment center so close to young children. 

“There are a lot of positive comments about what we’re doing, but there will always be people who have concerns,” Feldman said.

To read more about the proposed treatment center, read the Post-Record’s Feb. 18, 2021, article “Substance abuse treatment and recovery center proposed for Camas.”