Lakeway City Council denies special use permit for Recovery Ways rehab facility

Following a sustained public outcry, Lakeway City Council denied a special use permit April 16 for an addiction recovery center proposed on the Lakeway Regional Medical Center campus.

City Council members added that they were unlikely to allow Recovery Ways, a post-detox rehab facility, to operate anywhere in the city. Council had previously rescinded an initial permit for Recovery Ways near the intersection of Lakeway Boulevard and Lohmans Crossing Road.

"Not only is [Recovery Ways] not a fit for the City of Lakeway this is also, in my mind, not a fit for any place in our extraterritorial jurisdiction," Councilwoman Dee Ann Burns-Farrell said.

The unanimous council vote to deny the permit was greeted with applause from Lakeway residents at the meeting. More than 400 people signed a petition against granting a special use permit to Recovery Ways.

But Recovery Ways representatives said much of the anger toward the addiction rehab facility was misdirected and uninformed. Addiction rehab facilities like Recovery Ways help reintegrate addicts back into society and are good for the greater community, they said.