Liz Browning of the Browning gun family has spearheaded an effort to bring a therapeutic treatment center for severely mentally ill patients to the Normandy Park Towne Center. She has lined up 16 investors willing to pay $100,000 or more to finance this project. The advertised return on this investment is expected to be 18 percent to 20 percent, according to the Browning Community website.

Normandy Park Towne Center owner Tom O’Keefe has leased the space above the Kayak Grill to Hanbleceya, a group from La Mesa California, to expand their operation to Normandy Park. According to the Hanbleceya website they treat patients with the following disorders: schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, affective and anxiety disorders, trauma based conditions, and dual diagnoses.

Their unique program is advertised as a residential treatment program that is community based. The community in this case is Normandy Park. The residences are single-family homes purchased and/or leased by Hanbleceya.

One of their residences is located in my immediate neighborhood. This home houses five male patients. Because of Normandy Park’s lack of zoning regulations it is legal to have this boarding house style living arrangement in our community.

My neighbors and I met to discuss our concerns and the impact this has had on our neighborhood. We agree that there is a need for mental health clinics and it is not our intention to discriminate against the Hanbleceya patients. Our main concern is about the safety issues associated with severely mentally ill patients living in an unsupervised setting in the midst of a quiet family neighborhood.

Hanbleceya’s claim is that they just rent the houses to their patients so they aren’t obligated to ensure the safety of the neighbors. I beg to differ with this argument since this isn’t a typical rental situation.

You can learn more about Ms. Browning and her organization at Browning Communities.com and about Hanbleceya at Hanbleceya.com. My hope in submitting this letter is to alert Normandy Park residents of the intention of Hanbleceya to house their patients in our community in unsupervised family homes.

I urge the city of Normandy Park to establish zoning laws and licensing regulations for businesses of this type to require supervision by qualified staff trained in dealing with severely mentally ill patients to oversee the security of the residents of these homes and their neighbors,

J.D. Bissell
Normandy Park