OREM — The swanky substance-abuse rehabilitation center at the former Osmond television studio may be good news to some in Hollywood, but many who live near the building say it doesn't belong in their neighborhood.
Nancy Anderson, who lives a block and a half away from the Orem campus of Cirque Lodge, which industry insiders describe as one of the best drug and alcohol rehab centers in the country, says she worries patients might leave the facility and wander into her yard looking for drugs.
"Because these people are rich and famous we're supposed to be happy about it?" Anderson says. "We're not. It's a real fallacy to say we're safe just because they are rich and famous. A drug addict is a drug addict."
Anderson lives in a neighborhood of gated homes, private tennis courts and indoor swimming pools. She is within walking distance of a golf course and a city park.
Celebrities, many of whom have paid the $26,000-per-month fee to stay at Cirque Lodge's luxurious Sundance cabin, might feel right at home on Palisade Lane, but to Anderson, her neighborhood hardly seems the appropriate place for a drug rehab center.
"We don't want 800 North to be known as rehab lane," says Kevin Hawkins, who also lives near the building. "There's much more suitable areas for this."
The Deseret News gave readers an inside look at the Cirque Lodge this past week. That story noted that for the most part, those who live near the former TV studio don't mind its existence and that most neighbors do not even know its function.
But Hawkins and others are especially upset that Cirque Lodge now brings horses to the property almost daily for what they call experiential therapy. Hawkins doesn't think horses, or the smell of manure, belong in a suburban area.
Hawkins also says the city didn't properly inform the neighborhood the massive studio was being transformed into a drug treatment center catering to wealthy clients. He says legal notices of the zone change were buried in a local newspaper few residents saw.
The city should have also posted notices on the doors of homes within 300 feet of the building, Hawkins said. Because they didn't, Hawkins said no one showed up at a public meeting to discuss the zone-change proposal.
"We're changing from a television studio to a drug rehab center and nobody knew about it? What's wrong with this picture?" he said. "If we knew about it, the zoning wouldn't have got changed."
Orem city planner Stanford Sainsbury said the city followed proper procedure but admits the situation could have been handled differently.
In response to the complaints of Hawkins' neighborhood, the City Council amended its zoning laws. Sainsbury said if a similar situation occurs in the future, residents will be notified at their homes.
Complaints like these are no surprise to Cirque Lodge director Gary Fisher. Fisher says most people appreciate the services a drug rehab center provides but don't want it in their back yard.
It's a sentiment he can understand, but he says neighbors have little to worry about.
Orem City Manager Jim Reams agrees. It is unlikely a Cirque Lodge client would roam the neighborhood looking for drugs, Reams says, because clients are free to leave in their cars whenever they want.
The Osmond studio, which is now owned by the Losee family, has operated as a drug treatment center for more than a year, and Hawkins said most residents have learned to live with it.
"They're not horrible neighbors, and we're not inflamed about it anymore. But there's a quiet uneasiness about what's going to be done next," he said.
E-mail: jhyde@desnews.com