Brain trauma center seeks different avenue for approval of center in Southampton

By Greg Vellner 21st Century News Service

We havent withdrawn our plan, said Ian Yannuzzi, executive director, Delaware Valley Residential Care, the firm that hopes to run a two-story, 16,000-square-foot center on the south side of Street Road, east of the Southampton Post Office.

Project plans were to have been reviewed this week by the Upper Southampton Township Planning Commission, but were scratched by DVRC at the last minute so it could pursue approval instead through the township zoning hearing board.

We need to go a different route, said Yannuzzi, who added the delay will not impede on the project timetable. We dont want to put the cart before the horse.

No date has been set yet for review by the zoning board.

The proposed TBI facility has met with growing community opposition over patient housing in proximity to nearby homes. Plans call for construction of five 4,200-square-foot single-story buildings to house a total of 40 patients on a narrow 6.5-acre tract near Kenneys Spirited Eatery, 1134 Street Road.

Dozens of irate township residents Monday night packed the hearing board meeting and shouted-down the project expressing concern over patient proximity to nearby homes and fearing negative impact on property value. Since the plan was first introduced last October, opponents have called the TBI center an unadulterated nightmare and labeled TBI patients not normal because, they claim, the patients can be prone to forgetfulness, substance abuse and lack of self-control, and thereby pose a risk to children and others living in the community.

But DVRC officials said patients are highly functioning and that some hold jobs.

The proposal calls for no medical treatment to be given at the center; nursing and physical-therapy professionals will staff the site, according to DVRC, which said it would move about 75 staff members from its Chalfont location to Southampton, if approved. The new site will have 45 parking spaces under the plan. No TBI patients have cars.

Founded in 2012, DVRC provides post-acute, community-based rehabilitation services for survivors of traumatic and acquired brain injury. Continued...

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Brain trauma center seeks different avenue for approval of center in Southampton