Monroeville approves voluntary rehab facility over citizen objections

Monroeville council members approved a voluntary drug treatment facility for the former Independence Court building on Center Road. Pyramid Healthcare was seeking conditional use for the inpatient treatment center. Pyramid was founded in 1999 in Altoona, and today has more than 80 facilities in eight states, including three in Allegheny County.

“Our plan is to convert it into a private residential inpatient substance abuse treatment facility, with medical detox services run by physicians and with 24-hour nursing,” said Pyramid founder and Board Chairman Jonathan Wolf. Wolf said the capacity would be 140 beds, although he added Pyramid facilities do not usually operate at full capacity. Residents who attended council’s citizen night session this month had concerns about security at the proposed rehab center.



“Having this facility near our property and any spillover from people there hanging out near our property would not be good,” said Andrew Yalch, who owns Charlie’s Ice Cream and the adjacent pizza parlor, located in front of the former Independence Court building on Center Road. “I don’t want to see people go without treatment. But the experience I’ve had with addicts over the years is that most of them end up back on whatever drug they were using.

I just think it’s a bad idea for Monroeville.” Albert Lardo of Monroeville said he is vehemently opposed to Pyramid’s proposal. “This should be in a remote section of Allegheny County someplace,” Lardo said.

“If someone walks out of this facility, (Pyramid) has no legal liability if they leave and hurt someone.” Wolf stressed that Pyramid’s treatment centers are strictly voluntary. “It’s not a prison treatment program.

People aren’t court-ordered to go,” Wolf said. “It’s not a halfway house or a recovery house — all of those places exist. We’re providing acute inpatient services.

I heard someone comment that patients will be ‘hanging out’ — our patients don’t hang out. We’re legally liable for them in the facility, and we know where they are every minute of the day.” Wolf did say that patients are kept under force at Pyramid, and that staff has a fleet of vans to transport patients if they choose to leave.

The facility does not employ security guards, he said. Councilman Bill Krut, a former police officer in Monroeville, said similar concerns about other rehab facilities — which he shared at one time — did not materialize. “When Recovery Centers of America went in on McGinley Road, I thought it was going to be chaos,” Krut said.

“But we never really saw any of those issues. I think we had more elopements from Forbes Hospital than from (Recovery Centers of America). And when a suboxone center went in on Monroeville Boulevard, I thought the same thing.

And really, there’s been nothing.” A rehab facility is a permitted use for the property under Monroeville’s zoning ordinances. Council voted 5-2 to approve Pyramid’s proposal, with councilmen Mike Adams and Bob Williams voting no.

“I’ve worked in a 100% voluntary facility, as well as one that’s 100% court-ordered,” said Laura Bartolomucci-James, who was at the council meeting requesting conditional use for a day care facility on Northern Pike. “They’re completely different types of patients. People who come in voluntarily are not the people you see on the news.

They want to be there. In my experience, that person is highly motivated and isn’t going to run out the door and hurt somebody.” Bartolomucci-James said a lot of people don’t realize how just common an issue addiction can be.

“The alcoholic, the person addicted to opioids, that could easily be your neighbor or the person who cuts your hair,” she said. “It’s a rampant mental health crisis, and something like this can only help.”.