Yolo County agreed to resume talks with the Indian Health Service on a proposed regional youth treatment center after years of county apprehension about the project.
The proposed drug and treatment facility, Sacred Oaks Healing Center, was first presented to supervisors in 2011 after the Indian Health Service failed to get approval to build in Butte County.
The 40,000-square-foot center would sit on a 12-acre site on the old DQ University property north of Davis and would provide substance abuse treatment services to American Indian/Alaska Native youth ages 12 to 17 throughout the northern California region. If approved in the near future, construction is estimated to be complete by July 2018.
According to staff documents, in 2012, the Board formed an ad hoc committee — consisting of supervisors Don Saylor and Jim Provenza — to facilitate communication and address concerns about the project. In 2015, the health service began an environmental assessment after receiving federal funds for the project and, later that year, the results were shared with the Board.
Upon receipt of the assessment, the county sent Indian Health Services — an agency within the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services — a letter expressing their concerns that the location of the facility would negatively impact local flood control, traffic, agricultural lands, and local hawk habitat. Supervisor Matt Rexroad, who authored the Board’s response, also noted the supervisors’ apprehension about the youths’ access to safe drinking water and emergency services.
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