Cascade County Commissioners voted unanimously during a June 24 special meeting to remand consideration of a special use permit for the drug rehab facility on Jasper Road back to the county zoning board of adjustment.

The ZBOA’s next regularly scheduled meeting is July 16, but the agendas aren’t typically posted until a few days prior.

In April, the ZBOA voted 3-2 to deny a special use permit for the facility to expand from eight to 16 beds.

The facility, formerly Healing the Circle Lodge, now Elk Ridge Recovery, opened last summer at 2601 Jasper Road.

ZBOA denies drug rehab facility expansion with 3-2 vote

Commissioner Eric Hinebauch moved to remand the SUP application back to ZBOA and wanted a better explanation of water sources for the facility; a timeline and plan for the fire suppression system; emergency and water delivery access addressed; consider the 12 proposed conditions from the neighborhood and whether there had been consideration of connecting to the city water system.

City staff discussed with the applicant last spring the option of connecting to city utilities, which generally requires annexation.

Lonnie Hill, deputy city planning director, told The Electric in April that the applicant hadn’t contacted city staff about utilities since spring 2025.

Area residents continued their opposition to the permit with concerns over property values, traffic, infrastructure and public safety.

Planned initially as an 18-bed facility, the company withdrew its permit application in June 2025 after a lengthy public hearing in May that drew significant opposition from neighboring property owners.

County zoning board to consider drug rehab bed expansion

It opened with four beds last year since, under county regulations, it could operate with up to eight beds as a residential inpatient treatment facility.

Elk Ridge Recovery filed an appeal of the ZBOA decision on May 15, in which its attorney Christine Lindley wrote that the board had denied the permit request based on density concerns that “appear to have been motivated in part by its concerns regarding decreased property values related to the property’s use as a [substance use disorder treatment facility], which violates several federal laws related to use by disabled persons. However, if the ZBOA’s concerns genuinely were related to the density of this use, the applicant proposes to the [county commission] two alternative conditions of approval that may mitigate the ZBOA’s concerns and remove the ZBOA’s unsupported claim in the record below that increased density by one building in a residential zone decreases the property values of adjacent properties.”

During their April meeting, John Harding, ZBOA member, moved to deny the permit because he felt the increased use, up to 16 beds, was not in harmony with the neighborhood and would negatively affect surrounding property owners.

He said he wasn’t considering the drug rehab aspect but viewed it as if a 16-plex was being built in the residential area.

His motion was seconded by Katie Hanning, who said they had to separate emotion from the regulations.

Both said the permit would amount to a rezoning of the property.

Harding said that if the drug rehab were to close, the property could have a use of 16 people in the future.

Michele Levine, a deputy county attorney, said during the April ZBOA meeting that it was “not a rezone. It’s not a change in use.”

Healing the Circle Lodge rehab facility opens with fewer beds after neighborhood opposition [2025]

Special use permits are issued to property owners for specific parcels for specific uses. The permits expire if the use ceases for six months, according to the county zoning regulations.

Harding said his concern was specific to the density and not who was inside.

He said he didn’t believe the proposed expansion endangered public health or safety since the City-County Health Department and rural fire departments signed off.

Harding said they didn’t have much guidance for handling projects on the border with the city.

In 2020, City Commissioners annexed about 40 acres adjacent to the Elk Ridge Recover property, to the southwest, for a four-lot subdivision, including the since-built truck wash facility, as well as proposed mini-storage units and future residential development.

City Commission to consider annexation for truck wash; Little Shell event center [2020]

At the time, some residents of the Bel-View Palisade neighborhood directly to the east opposed the annexation with concerns over traffic.

Ken Thornton, ZBOA member, said in April that they can’t discriminate based on substance abuse treatment or recovery under the Americans with Disabilities Act, so they were treading on the line of lawsuits.

Under the county zoning regulations, a “community residential facility serving eight or fewer persons is considered a residential use of property for purposes of zoning if the home provides care on a 24-hour-a-day basis.”

Among the allowable uses for such a facility is “a halfway house operated in accordance with regulations of the Department of Public Health and Human Services for the rehabilitation of alcoholics or drug-dependent persons.”

In the appeal, Lindley wrote, “one ZBOA member claimed, without supporting public comment or studies in the administrative record, that this project would be the equivalent of permitting a
16-plex project in a residential zone, which would decrease adjacent property values. Being unsupported, this claim likely is an arbitrary and capricious finding at minimum. At maximum, this claim, in light of another ZBOA member’s claim that a 100-person church would be permitted at a higher density compared to this project and would still be in line with the residential nature of surrounding properties, further demonstrates that this may be a discriminatory intent in the
application of the CCZR criteria for issuing an SUP.”

Lindley wrote that Elk Ridge Recovery proposed two alternative conditions of approval for the commission to consider for the SUP:

• the applicant would record a restriction/negative easement on the property, stating that the substance use disorder treatment facility approval for 16 residents would only be permitted so long as the property is used as such a facility to alleviate the ZBOA member’s concern that the property could be sold at a future date and have the equivalent of a 16-plex’s density approval); or
• the applicant would file a restriction/negative easement on the property to prohibit the construction of an additional eight-person drug rehab facility on the adjacent lot it also owns and is allowable under existing county regulations, pending sanitary system approval

Lindley wrote that if the commission doesn’t approve the SUP, her letter serves as initial notice of a potential lawsuit against the county.

During the June 24 meeting, Amanda Gilbreath, Elk Ridge manager, said that clients were under 24-hour supervision.

Commissioner Joe Briggs asked if they’d received complaints about loud music and disruptive residents since neighbors raised those concerns in their comments and letters to the county.

Gilbreath said she hadn’t received any complaints and gave her phone number to a neighbor who raised concerns at the April ZBOA meeting.

Commissioner Jim Larson asked if their clients were all from the Great Falls area or coming from out of town or out of state.

Gilbreath said all of their current clients were from Montana, but previously had some from out of state. She said if clients choose to stay in Great Falls, staff connects them with other programs; otherwise, they coordinate transportation back home.

Quentin Rhoades, a Missoula attorney retained by Doug and Sara Sexe, who live nearby, said that they don’t oppose treatment, recovery or the 8-resident facility that is there now as “it is lawful and it is welcome.”

He said the Elk Ridge appeal raised the question of whether it had met its burden of addressing county permit criteria. Rhoades said they argue Elk Ridge had not.

Commissioner Joe Briggs said that it was a “particularly sticky” case and he had concerns over issues raised by area residents so far, including driving conditions in the area, particularly in terms of how a water delivery vehicle would get up the wandering roads to fill the cistern.

Gilbreath said the cistern was currently filled twice a week and they had four clients on site.

Briggs said if they increased to 16 residents, that would increase their water usage and require daily water deliveries.

Gilbreath said she didn’t think it was necessary for the cistern be filled twice a week, but they’d had an irrigation issue that was now fixed and didn’t want to run out of water.

Briggs said that added to his concern.

Lindley said Elk Ridge was in the process of trying to connect to a water well.

Commissioner Eric Hinebauch asked about fire suppression, which staff said was regulated through the Department of Public Health and Human Services licensing process.

He said he wasn’t comfortable giving even conditional approval without getting their questions answered.

Commissioner Jim Larson said “I have concerns as well,” including that the facility hadn’t been operating very long so he thought perhaps they should stay at that level through next year, then determine if it was functioning and needed to increase to 16 beds.

“I think right now this is moving too quickly,” Larson said. “If we allow this to go forward, then it’s darn hard to pull it back.”

Briggs said he didn’t want to put a timeline on it since they didn’t know the business operations, but was concerned if they were meeting the requirement that the facility have adequate water.

“This is a tough one for a number of reasons,” he said.

He said the water supply was “really where I’m hung up,” on a route for water delivery without causing safety problems.

Briggs said he remembered a local water delivery company closing and residents were calling the county asking for delivery, a service it doesn’t provide.

In their new permit application, filed in April, Elk Ridge asked to have up to 16 occupants with a rotating staff of seven, according to the county planning staff report.

Residents will continue to be limited to the facility, other than medical appointments and support meetings, according to the staff report.

Most care, including group therapy, case management, individual counseling, and supervised recovery activities, will continue to be clinically supervised inside the facility.

County zoning board delays decision on proposed Jasper Road drug rehab, seeking more information [2025]

The facility is currently licensed by the Montana Department of Public Health and Human Services as a residential substance use disorder facility for up to eight beds.

The license listed Samantha Romero as clinical director.

Her last day was June 16, which The Electric confirmed with Romero, and the facility posted the job vacancy online.

The Administrative Rules of Montana require a clinical director to be licensed to provide substance use disorder facility services, Holly Matkin, DPHHS spokeswoman, told The Electric.

Matkin said in a June 26 email that there are employees at the facility who are eligible to serve as clinical director, and the DPHHS Office of Inspector General was working with the facility during the staffing transition.

The Electric contacted Gilbreath on June 25. She said they’d filled the position and referred any further questions to her boss, whose number she said she’d text to The Electric. She has not.

A May DPHHS inspection found that the facility was providing unlicensed withdrawal
management services based on five clients who were admitted in May.

Matkin told The Electric that the facility submitted an acceptable plan of correction to address the cited deficiencies.

In April, county staff recommended that the ZBOA approve the permit, with conditions.

The conditions include no on-street parking, staff are required to use the existing garage or driveway and no residents should have vehicles on the property; at least two to three staff on site at all times when the facility has inpatient residents; a maximum of 16 residents; and obtaining any necessary permits and approvals.

A new septic system has been engineered to accommodate up to 16 residents and was approved by the City-County Health Department, according to the application materials, to ensure protection of groundwater and nearby water supplies.

Staff wrote in their analysis that with CCHD’s oversight of the newly updated septic system, they don’t foresee any impact on public or private water supplies.

The facility uses an existing cistern with water delivered weekly, according to the April staff report.

CCHD approval for water supply and septic would be required prior to the special use permit being issued, according to county planning staff.

Lt. Matt Fleming, Great Falls Police Department spokesman, told The Electric in April that he’s heard of no issues related to the facility since it opened.

Residential rehab facility planned for Jasper Road [2025]

Last summer, Nancy Landa, the majority partner in the ownership group, purchased the property. She’s based in Las Vegas, according to property records.

The county issued a permit to Healing the Circle Lodge last summer, allowing for a maximum of four beds until the septic issues were addressed.

After a roughly three-hour public hearing on the initial permit request in May 2025, the ZBOA postponed its decision.

Many community members spoke in favor of the project, discussing the need for chemical dependency treatment in the area.

Area neighbors spoke in opposition to the project, citing concerns about traffic and safety.

The county zoning board of adjustment reviewed the permit application withdrawal during its June 19 meeting.