DECIDE WHETHER TO REZONEOCEANFRONT PROPERTY TO ALLOW AHIGH-END DETOX FACILITY..

WPTVNEWSCHANNEL 5'S JON SHAINMANSPELLS OUT WHAT'S AT STAKE INSAINT LUCIE COUNTY.<<After most tourists havegone, only the pelicans areenjoying the water oFrederick Douglas Beach.

Butthe possibility for adifferent kind of part-timeresident to this stretch ofSouth Hutchinson Island iscausing controversy.

(:4"Unfortunately, this type offacility is something thatpeople embrace from fear.")Sam Yates represents thedevelopers of AtlanticWellness who have proposed an80- million dollar resortstyle drug and alcoholfacility.

(:6 Sam Yates/Atlantic Wellness Center "Thisis not a sober home.

It's nota halfway house, this is afull facility for treatingaddiction.") The 220-bedcomplex would bring more than200 jobs to the area.

Yatescompared it to a Betty FordClinic.

(:4 Yates "A sparesort if you will that willserve the entire TreasureCoast.") (:3 Grande "Theproject is in the wrongplace.") Former CountyCommissioner Charles Grandelives on Hutchinson Island.

Hesits on the Planning andZoning Commission now, butwasn't on the board when itvoted last year against theproposal.

(:10 Charles Grande/Former County Commissioner"We're not against a rehabfacility but the facilityshould be sited in an areathat's consistent with thatkind of usage.") Grande saysthe facility is out ofcharacter for the area, andwonders whether people whohave bought property nearbywill want to build.

(stand:14"On top of the planning andzoning denial, because morethan 50- percent of thelandowners within 500-feet ofthe proposal are against it,in order to get the rezoning,the county must approve it bya four-fifths majority.") Inthe public record, there aredozens of comments fromresidents and visitors againstthe facility, but some strongletters of support, includingfrom St.

Lucie County SheriffKen Mascara.

In St.

LucieCounty, JS WPTV NC 5.