| by Alex Nuti-de Biasi, Journal-Opinion The Vermont Supreme Court has left coal in Newbury’s stocking on Christmas Eve. In a decision published yesterday, the court affirmed the Environmental Court’s ruling to permit the state’s plans to develop a secure treatment facility for youth on Stevens Place. The Vermont Department of Children and Families and the Vermont Permanency Initiative, the Becket Family of Services subsidiary that owns the property, contended that their proposal is a “group home” which under state law should not be subject to local permit review. The court agreed. “Exempting facilities [from the statute] that provide short-term care for juveniles or that have security features would hamper the legislative purpose,” the court wrote. It found arguments that the proposal resembles a juvenile detention center rather than a group home unpersuasive. “The undisputed facts are that DCF will place youth in the facility based on their treatment needs. That these youth may also require a secured facility does not undermine the unrefuted testimony of the DCF Commissioner that youth will be placed at the facility based on their treatment needs, not the need for security independent of any clinical assessment.” |