HUD Investigates

A Vienna woman who wants to build a drug and alcohol treatment center near Marshall last month filed a housing discrimination complaint against Fauquier County.

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) has 100 days to investigate and rule on Vanessa Vergnetti's complaint.

A doctor of naturopathy, Vergnetti sought special-exception permit approval from the county for a 50-bed treatment center on Lake Daniel Road.

After a public hearing in January, the county planning commission unanimously recommended that Fauquier's board of supervisors deny Vergnetti's request.

Vergnetti claims the planners recommended denial because the center, called Sagebrush, would treat drug and alcohol abusers.

But moments before the commission vote, planner Ann McCarty (Marshall District) said that she believed "this is too intense an application for this particular area.

Vergnetti alleges that the commission's action violates housing discrimination laws to protect the disabled. Under federal law, drug and alcohol users, because they require treatment, qualify as disabled, Vergnetti said.

People receiving drug and alcohol treatment are considered handicapped, she said in an interview. And to discriminate against that class of people is against the law.

Vergnetti also believes McCarty and the commission gave her short shrift.

McCarty refused to meet with me, Vergnetti said.I don't think the [land-use review] process was fair, she said.

For the full story, read the April 8 Fauquier Times-Democrat