SAN MATEO, Calif. (KGO) — Some San Mateo residents spoke up during a county Behavioral Health Commission meeting on Wednesday, in opposition to a substance abuse treatment center that’s being proposed for their community.
The 69-bed Horizon Treatment Services facility would be located on 101 North El Camino Real near El Cerrito Avenue in San Mateo.
The County Board of Supervisors approved a funding commitment of $2 million for the project on October 21.
Residents say they want more details about it and transparency.
RESOURCES: Get help with addiction, substance abuse issues
“It’s close to a school,” San Mateo resident Taso Zografos told ABC7 Eyewitness News. “Safety and security of our community is primary focus. There are other better facility sites, we think, in more industrial and closer to actual medical facilities that offer emergency services than this one for treatment centers.”
San Mateo council member Lisa Diaz Nash said the city has limited say in the project and that it’s spearheaded by the county and Horizon.
“I am someone who has known several people firsthand who have experienced these challenges and I myself, my own circumstances in the past, have been to the dark side and stepped back,” Diaz Nash said. “So we all really have the same concerns. We want compassionate, effective treatment for people who are facing these challenges but we also want detailed information so that we can build community consensus about the project.”
Eliseo Becerra of Horizon Treatment Services said the current building would be completely redeveloped and the project would help those struggling with addiction.
“Our goal is to work with the neighbors,” said Becerra, Horizon Treatment Services Chief of Strategic Growth & Special Operations. “The concern is around safety so they need to be able to see that as our concern as well. Most importantly, we are focused on being able to show and demonstrate that this is a licensed facility by the state.”
MORE: Why accessing drug addiction treatment is so hard in San Francisco
Becerra said they partnered with the county as part of Proposition 1 for grant funding to support infrastructure to address substance abuse and mental health crisis.
He said the facility is an all-in-one campus designed to ensure individuals are engaged with treatment and do not get lost in the hand off process. He said it would provide a sobering point to stabilize and treatment to provide medical attention to assist with withdraw management and introduce clinical counseling. And there’s a residential component to it as well.
He says they applied for a grant and if approved, construction would start this fall and it would be fully operational in March of 2028.
According to county documents, the overall project would cost an estimated $20 million to $23 million.
Becerra said they have a community meeting scheduled for Tuesday, March 24 at 6 p.m. at the downtown San Mateo Library.
Copyright © 2026 KGO-TV. All Rights Reserved.