LEXINGTON, Ky. — Lexington’s Board of Adjustment voted 4-2 Monday to approve a conditional use permit for a 52-bed inpatient mental health and eating disorder treatment center in the heart of the Chevy Chase neighborhood, overriding sustained opposition from hundreds of residents, parents, and school officials who packed the downtown Council Chambers and spilled into a mezzanine overflow area. When the result was announced, jeering, booing, and shouting erupted from the crowd — audible on the LexTV recording of the meeting.
The permit, PLN-BOA-26-00006, authorizes Behavioral Health Real Estate Associates — working with affiliated Tennessee-based real estate firm ZLD Partners and proposed operator Roaring Brook Recovery — to convert a largely dormant building at 319 Duke Road into a residential mental health facility. Board members Chad Walker, Harry Clark, Brandon Gross, and Ross Boggess voted in favor. Chair Bob Sturdivant and member Linda Tucker voted no.
The approval came after one of the most heavily attended zoning hearings in recent Lexington memory. More than 260 people entered the Council Chambers at 200 East Main Street, with the line outside reportedly wrapping around the block before the 1:30 p.m. hearing began. The fire marshal ordered standees into the hallway and mezzanine, where a television feed was set up. Dozens of residents who had waited hours ultimately left before the public comment period ended to pick up children from after-school activities…