After Planning Board Tables Gambling Addiction Facility Decision, a Back and Forth Between Residents

Over 30 Chatham residents gathered for the third time in as many weeks at Chatham Borough Hall Wednesday night to discuss a planned gambling rehabilitation center in what is now the Parrot Mill Inn.

On Feb. 22, Borough residents filed an appeal with the borough Zoning Board of Adjustment in an attempt to prevent Michael Osborne from leasing the space at 47 Main St. At the meeting Wednesday night, Borough attorney Anne Marie Rizutto recommended that the board "table" the matter until the appeal had gone through. The board unanimously agreed to postpone the finalization of Osborne's application. 

The Zoning Board will discuss the matter at a future meeting. Its next meeting is March 24.

Chairman Richard Crater then opened the floor to the public, whose speeches were less agitated and lengthy than they had been at previous meetings. Crater said the board couldn't answer any questions because the issue had become a legal matter.

Tallmadge Avenue resident Michael Callahan spoke first, thanking the board for following "procedure."

"It's proper for the Planning Board to table the matter," he said.

Callahan then told the officials: "I place a challenge before each of you. It is within your legal rights as citizens to approach the zoning officials and support the appeal.

"Let the zoning board know you support the appeal," he finished.

Rizzuto made it clear that the board would table the matter for as long as it takes the Zoning Board to come to a decision about the issue.

"There is no limitation on tabling of matter," she said. "We will table the matter until the Zoning Board acts."

In his first appearance since the Feb. 3 meeting at which the board first approved Osborne's application, Toby Kennedy—who is the son of Parrot Mill Inn owner Betsey Kennedy—stepped to the microphone to defend his decision to lease the space to Osborne and to reassure residents that he had done his homework checking Osborne's credentials.

"[I've been] brought up like I'm the bad guy. I checked Michael Osborne out," he said. "This is the best thing for the Parrot Mill Inn. I love Chatham. I grew up here. I lived here my whole life. I don't know what's going to happen now. Someone might rip it down."

"I checked it out," he insisted.

Robert Latorre, though, who filed the appeal to the Zoning Board, disagreed that leasing the inn to Osborne was the best thing for it.

"I disagree directly with Toby," he said. "The only people to benefit [from the lease agreement] will be the owners of the inn and Osborne."

Residents who support leasing the inn to Osborne came forward last night to defend Kennedy's decision.

"It will maintain not only the outside, but the inside of the property, which is quite beautiful," said one.  

Residents who would rather see the inn torn down weren't shy to come forward. In a scene reminiscent of one that took place during the Feb. 22 meeting, Janine Ferrano asked for a show of hands of people in the audience who would rather something "less aesthetic" in place of the gambling center.

"We'll go for tacky versus the health and safety of children," Ferrano said.

Most of the audience raised their hands. But immediately afterward, a resident who lives on Parrot Mill Road came forward.

"I live on Parrot Mill," he said. "And I would not like it to be tacky."

The air in the meeting Wednesday wasn't as tense as it had been at the previous two meetings, although there was a back and forth between those who supported leasing the inn to Osborne and those who didn't.

"I agree, this building is beautiful," Carrie Nugent said. "But so are the dozens of children in the area."

Nugent's testimony received some scoffs from the small minority of the audience that supported the addiction facility.

Phyllis Seaton of Fairmount Avenue, who doesn't have young children anymore, hypothesized about her reaction to the situation if she did.

"I've lived here all my life. It's a great town. There are some very narrow-minded people," she said. If I found out my next door neighbor was a gambler, I don't think my children's safety would be jeopardized. They're probably lovely people with a gambling problem. I would not mind them being in my neighborhood.

"This is crazy," she concluded.

Lorraine Teisch of Tallmadge Avenue, though, wasn't buying the idea that addicts are safe for her children.

"I understand the need to get a quality tenant in there,"  Teisch said. "It's the things that were quoted online by Osborne that concerned me. He himself quoted that crime is a natural next step of gambling addictions. Those comments scare the heck out of people."

Kennedy countered, "I don't think Chatham has the right to deny someone help. This has been blown way out of proportion."

He responded to resident concerns about outsiders coming into the clinic from other parts of the country after the public comment section ended.

"My family's bed and breakfast has been there since 1985," he said. "Many people have stayed at my B & B and I [didn't] know who they [were]. With Michael's clinic there, we would know every person that's there. We would know every registered guest."

Kennedy, who has lived in Chatham his entire life, has seen the town change over time.

"Throughout the years we've seen many changes in Chatham, but the bed and breakfast has remained the same," he said. "The town has changed, though. It's just a newer Chatham. I guess the old Chatham is gone."