Advanced Healthcare will move forward with its original plans for a 44-bed assisted living center in the Meadowbrook neighborhood, and will have to come back to the city if it seeks to expand beyond that.

Brookhaven aldermen on Tuesday heard from City Inspector David Fearn, who said the Planning Commission on Aug. 13 approved the site plan as the final plat for Advanced Healthcare.

Ward 5 Alderman Fletcher Grice asked if Advanced Healthcare was in line with what the company said a year ago, which had been a source of disagreement earlier in the process.

“Forty-four beds,” Fearn said. “They understand that if they have any changes to that they have to come back to the Planning Commission. They understand if they wanted to increase the number of beds at any future time to add their memory care unit they’d have to come back to the Planning Commission and then come through here [the board] obviously. They cannot change their final plan […] but they can’t change what it’s going to be until they come back to the planning commission.”

Fearn said Advanced Healthcare purchased the property July 27 and has started dirtwork. The board approved the motion to accept the recommendation of the Planning Commission regarding Advanced Healthcare.

Advanced Healthcare officials earlier this year sought an extension of six months on its special zoning exemption.

“The reason for the request is the scope of our project has changed since we first proposed it,” Chief Operating Officer Mike Cunningham said in June. “We first proposed a building of about 44 beds of regular assisted living. But we began listening to the community and talking to the community and also doing some additional demographical studies, and we’ve concluded that we need to do a much larger facility here.”

The facility will be built on Silver Cross Drive behind Central Baptist Church in the Meadowbrook neighborhood. Obstacles arose during the initial planning phase because the property is in an R-1 zone, which is the most restrictive and allows only single-family homes to be built in it. Other obstacles included restrictions regarding proximity to railroads and hospitals that made it hard for the facility to be placed in another area of the city.

After talks with the city’s planning commission, Advanced Healthcare decided to pursue S-1 distinction. This distinction does not rezone the area and only affects the one lot in question. The distinction also limits use to an assisted living facility. In the future, the building and lot could only be used for another purpose by receiving approval from the city.

 

Street will be closed

The Brookhaven Public Works department advises resident to be aware of upcoming road closures that will affect North Church Street.

In Tuesday night’s Board of Aldermen meeting, Public Works Director Steve Moreton said North Church Street from Josephine Street at the Medical Arts Building to the railroad track will be closed starting Monday morning. The department is repairing an undersized sewer line. Moreton said drivers will be able to make a left on Georgia Avenue to avoid the closed area and the work should last at least two weeks, and the road will be closed both day and night.

In other business, the board moved to:

• Approve to hire Jason Blake as a non-certified police officer.

• Approve to terminate James McNulty and Jeffrey James from the cemetery department.

• Approve to change Percy Brown, Jr. in the cemetery department from part-time to full-time to replace Jannarious Jenkins who has resigned.

• Approved for Kathy Allen to attend the Mississippi Municipal Court Clerk seminar on Sept. 16 through 18 in Jackson, Mississippi. Registration is paid by the Mississippi Municipal College, reimbursement will be for mileage only.

•  Approve to move uncollectible water account to “bad debt” list.

• Approve pay request No.1 from Greenbriar, DSLP in the amount of $139,913.59 for work completed on the SPAP sewer improvements.

•  Approve beer permit for the Golden China Restaurant located at 637 W. Congress, owner Dao Qiang Chen, to sell beer for consumption.

• Approve Clint Earls to attend Investigator Training in New Orleans with a registration being $770 and expenses incurred approximately $300.