A local women’s sober living facility is fighting to stay in its location until arrangement can be made to move while neighbors are arguing they should be kicked out and punished for violating a city ordinance.

A public hearing was held Tuesday during the Board of Mayor and Aldermen meeting on the location of a Christian rehabilitation program called A Healing Place, which is owned by Charmaine McGowan.

“This hearing is in regard to the decision of the Zoning Board of Appeals denying the request for special exception to operate a non-profit Christian ministry of hope for temporary housing of women at 4 Crestwood Drive. This was on Oct. 4,” said Dalton McCarty, zoning administrator for the city of Vicksburg.

McGowan said she would prefer to stay at the Crestwood House, but the city gave her a list of required upgrades, like a sprinkler system and a second staircase that would have to be installed, which she said she couldn’t afford.

“I was presented with the legal aspects of if I stayed there, the things I’ve got to fix to keep that as a facility where other people can stay,” she said. “I would love to stay there. I really would, but I don’t think I can afford what I’ve been told that I have to do to stay there.”

Her alternative solution is to make an addition to Beautiful Deliverance, where the women take classes and receive counseling for their addictions. However, McGowan said that move could take up to a year because of construction.

“I would like to be able to stay (at Crestwood) for the next year while we process the building,” she said.

Two women who volunteer at the house, and one woman who lives there, testified about the positive impact the program is having on these women’s lives.

McGowan moved the women’s home in July from Washington Street to the house on Crestwood Drive to be in a better neighborhood and to be closer to Beautiful Deliverance. McGowan said the home holds six women, three children and one house manager.

The neighborhood’s attorney, Wren Way, said the program should not be allowed in the neighborhood because of a city ordnance that says Crestwood is only for single family homes.

McGowan claims she did not know about the zoning restrictions. Whiles Way said she did know, she still should be penalized.

“They’ve known it from the beginning. In spite of that, and in spite of the laws in the city of Vicksburg, they violated the law and moved in,” he said. “We ask that they be cited for that violation.”

He said the residents have no problem with the organization or their mission, but they do not want the home located in their neighborhood.

“When you let some group, person, anyone else, inside a single family residential neighborhood it violates the ordinance. Period. I don’t care if it’s a group of priests or poor people or babies,” Way said.

Neighbor William Mathews, who also believes McGowan knew she was moving in a single family neighborhood, said having the program in his neighborhood could lead to more burglaries in the area if any of the women relapse and look for ways to support their habit.

“I’m fixing to retire as an attorney so I’m going to have plenty of time on my hands to sue Ms. McGowan and the city if I choose,” Mathews said.

He is concerned the van used to transport the women to counseling, travels too fast on the residential road, and Mathews also had reservations about men visiting the women at the home.

McGowan said no men are allowed to visit, but children, some in their teens, do visit on the weekend.

“We’ve got a very nice, quiet neighborhood, and we want to keep it that way,” Mathews said. “How will we know some boyfriend, that is not suppose to come over, is there? What’s going to prevent them from coming over there and starting something?”

Neighbor Jason Bennett argued there are 11 people living in the home, more than McGowan originally said, and feels she has not been “on the up and up” when it comes to how she has represented the program to the public.

Way asked the board to deny McGowan’s request for a 12-month transition period. He warned if the board granted a transition period there was nothing to stop anyone else from doing whatever they wanted in any neighborhood, and he said there was nothing to ensure they would actually move in 12 months.

“We do not want to be in a neighborhood where we’re not wanted,” McGowan said.

Wren continued by saying not only would the city not be enforcing its law, but it would also be held responsible for any injury or damage that occurred because the house does not meet the regulations of the boarding house statute.

The board voted to take all the information under advisement and will make a decision on Jan. 25.