Residents Question Social Worker on Sober Living Home

Hillsdale residents opposed to a Magnolia Avenue sober living home brought their questions this week to a social worker who testified on behalf of the plan to the borough planning board.

Anthony Polito, who is a licensed clinical social worker, had previously testified that he believed applicant Donna Lally, who owns the two-family home and plans to house four recovering addicts at a time, had good intentions with her plan. He did recommend some different operations than those she had previously described while giving her own testimony, such as using urine tests at least weekly to ensure sobriety among the tenants.

Seven Hillsdale residents questioned Polito during another hearing this week, asking about a variety of topics related to drug and alcohol addiction treatment, the methods that Lally has proposed to use in managing the home and his own qualifications.

As the hearing continued late Wednesday, board members said they were unsure of the relevance of some of the questions which focused on the quality of service Lally would provide. 

The board has been tasked with determining whether or not the residents of the sober living home would count as a "family" under the definition given in the borough ordinance. 

"We're talking about a particular piece of property and what its use is," board member Zoltan Horvath said. "I don't think we've been doing that."

Lally is also seeking a use variance in case the board determines the tenants would not count as a family.

That issue will be addressed directly at the next hearing, according to Allen Bell, Lally's attorney. A professional planner is scheduled to testify about the sober living home at the Hillsdale Planning Board's November 5 meeting at 7:30 p.m. in the borough hall.