Omakase Sushi and Sake Bar, a new restaurant has opened at 848 E. High St. in Lexington, Ky, photographed May 24, 2022. The Chevy Chase dining spot is in the former Tomo restaurant location, which closed after 20 years in 2021.
Brian Simms
bsimms@herald-leader.com
Some residents in Chevy Chase are putting up significant opposition to the idea of an inpatient mental health clinic opening up in their neighborhood.
Roaring Brook and ZLD Partners are seeking a conditional use permit from Lexington’s Board of Adjustment to operate the clinic at 319 Duke Road, a property that has been host to a number of clinical services in recent years. The clinic would be a personal care facility for patients with severe mental health diagnoses who need “daily living assistance,” according to application materials from the companies to the city.
Chevy Chase neighbors are raising alarm that the facility may be a drug rehabilitation clinic that could pose dangers to the neighborhood, despite the plans for the facility to focus on mental health.
A website bearing the tagline “Chevy Chase Deserves Better” urges residents to oppose the project by reaching out to the Board of Adjustment. A short ad on the site says “A drug rehab clinic next to three schools and two churches? That’s not safe.”
Cassidy Elementary and Morton Middle School are a few blocks away from 319 Duke Road. The Cathedral of Christ the King, the Christ the King private school and Apostles Anglican Church are all a block from the property.
Officials from the schools and churches did not respond to requests for comment prior to publication.
‘It is not a drug rehabilitation center’
Though Roaring Brook does specialize in substance abuse treatment, CEO of the company Victor Rivera emphasized to the Herald-Leader this facility would be focused on mental health treatment.
“It is not a drug rehabilitation center, not a homeless shelter,” he said. “It is a voluntary, medically supervised program for commercially insured and private-pay adults who are choosing to get help for conditions like depression, anxiety, trauma, and eating disorders.”
The company held two open house meetings last week open to Chevy Chase neighbors concerned about the facility.
“We’ve held open houses to answer every question directly. What we’ve found is that when people see the facility and understand who we actually serve, the conversation changes,” Rivera said.
Application materials submitted to the Board of Adjustment do not mention any rehabilitation services being offered. The facility would focus on helping patients with “personal hygiene, social skills, medical reminders, meal preparation, physical fitness, (and) professional development,” the materials say. Optional behavioral health services would also be available.
Patients would have to be referred to the site from a physician, a state guardianship or some other entity, but all patients would voluntarily choose to stay there. There would be no walk-in services available. Patients are screened to ensure they are psychiatrically stable and do not pose a safety threat to themselves or others.
The operation would be substantively similar to previous programs that operated at the property, Roaring Brook said in a fact sheet shared with area residents.
Chevy Chase neighbors will have to wait to voice concerns
The facility was supposed to be discussed and voted on by the Board of Adjustment Monday. That has been pushed back to April 13.
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Adrian Paul Bryant is the Lexington Government Reporter for the Herald-Leader. He joined the paper in November 2025 after four years of covering Lexington’s local government for CivicLex. Adrian is a Jackson County native, lifelong Kentuckian, and proud Lexingtonian.