City blocks recovery home expansion in historic Bayard Park — and beyond

WNIN | By Tim Jagielo

Published July 23, 2024 at 2:13 PM CDT

Bellemeade-Bayard Park Neighborhood Association member Shona Jarboe addresses the Evansville City Council Monday, July 22, prior to the votes. She led a taskforce that investigated both local ordinances and recovery homes, especially NOW Counseling, which moved into her neighborhood and began operating outside of the existing occupancy restrictions. The homes now operate legally.

The Evansville City Council has denied a rezoning request for two properties in the Bayard Park neighborhood; this would have doubled the legal amount of individuals living in these homes, says better plan needed for recovery homes

The city of Evansville has nearly 30 privately-owned recovery residences registered with the Indiana Affiliation of Recovery Residences (INARR).

These are homes where individuals transition to independent living while recovering from addiction or incarceration.

NOW Counseling operates 10 of these homes. Three are in the Bellemeade-Bayard Park Neighborhood., listed on two parcels of land.

Currently, 819 E. Powell has five residents. 971 E Blackford is comprised of two properties. The home facing Kentucky Avenue is a duplex with 10 residents, the other home is not occupied.

They asked the city to rezone the homes from R-2 to R-6. A “yes” vote would have increased the legal number of residents from five to 10 per unit.

The Monday votes were eight to one, with President Zach Heronemus dissenting. He felt it was most important to support addiction services.

“I believe that everybody needs a second chance,” he said. “And I mean that at my core. And I think when we wrap around, and we open our arms to people, no matter what their backgrounds are, that's when we can see the best out of our community.”

Other council members felt that the burden on the neighborhood was too great, and a better plan was needed.

The neighborhood association and task force have been fighting the expansion of residents, led by resident Shona Jarboe.

“(I’m) relieved for the moment,” she said after the votes. “There's gonna be more to come. But we'll stay involved and I think that we will come about to the right platform for all of Evansville.”

By “platform” she means an intentional paradigm for the city to handle recovery homes through policy and ordinance.

There’s also not technically a zoning for recovery residences. A “Group Home'' is the closest option.

Ward 4 City Council Member Alex Burton championed pausing the rezoning of these recovery homes to have more discussions with residents. "There's been a lot of conversations the administration Area Plan, probably meetings three to four times a week, specifically trying to find a solution as things currently are, both from the standpoint of the business and from the standpoint of the neighborhood," he said. He ultimately voted against the rezonings, in favor of establishing clear guidelines for recovery residences. — Ward 4 City Council Member Alex Burton championed pausing the rezoning of these recovery homes to have more discussions with residents. "There's been a lot of conversations the administration, Area Plan, probably meetings three to four times a week, specifically trying to find a solution as things currently are, both from the standpoint of the business and from the standpoint of the neighborhood," he said. He ultimately voted against the rezonings, in favor of establishing clear guidelines for recovery residences.

Ward 4 Council member Alex Burton through many conversations with residents changed his mind and did not support the rezoning.

Instead, he’d like to explore using vacant commercial properties.

Recovery homes owner Jordan Milby said he is OK with the votes and will continue to operate per the ordinances.

“It's important to note that all three of those were vacant, vacant properties in the (Bayard Park) neighborhood abandoned properties. So there's plenty of work that had to be done.”

While the homes are in better condition now, nearby homeowners found zoning violations and fought for months to get these homes in compliance, and argued against adding more residents.

“We are not trying to get rid of recovery residences in residential neighborhoods,” Jarboe said during public comment. “That has not ever been our purpose. It's simply been the density of population that was being put in the single family residences.”

She said neighbors are fine with the five recovery residents housed at 819 E Powell.

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