Going Nuclear: In Suing NIMBY Cities, Behavioral Health Providers Face Major Dilemma

Behavioral Health Business November 4, 2024
Matthew Blake

Earlier this year, the city commission of Stuart, Florida, said “no” to a zoning variance requested by Behavioral Health Centers LLC, which sought to repurpose an existing building into a mental health and substance use disorder (SUD) center.

The commission, and residents of the Florida Treasure Coast town, feared that the clinic’s patients would cause mayhem.

“They’re going to be in my backyard,” one resident testified at the city commission hearing, according to court documents. “They’re looking in our back door, in our backyards, through our windows, and it’s scary.”

In response, Behavioral Health Centers did what dozens of SUD clinic operators have done for decades: They sued. Their lawsuit, filed in September in a Florida federal court, claims that...

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