POTSDAM – Following a mixed reception at a recent public hearing regarding the establishment of a group home for addicts in Potsdam, New Hope Community Church’s Transformation House Ministries will host a meeting of its own.

The group, which has proposed the project, is hoping to persuade residents near the 88 Market St. location that the benefit of the program outweighs concerns over safety and drainage issues that were raised at the public hearing.

The meeting is scheduled for 7 p.m. Oct. 15 at vacant building near the Verizon Store on Market Street.

John Ault, Pastor of New Hope Community Church, said the meeting is intended to answer questions regarding the proposed recovery home.

"We want to explain the nature of the program and supportive living home we wish to bring to the community and answer questions people have," he said.

Ault said the home would house about a dozen women who would have no other place to live after their release from drug rehabilitation.

The church requires a special use permit to use the house as a group dwelling, ordinarily not allowed in the B-2 light business and residential zone.

Representatives of the project said that among the reasons that they do not want to build at their property on Grant Street is because that lot is also prone to flooding, but opponents countered that building at Market and Garden would not solve that problem for them. Planners have asked the church to convince neighbors of the project's merit before making their decision on the permit.

The measure was tabled at a recent meeting, which drew supporters and opponents of the project.

Planners have two months from the Oct. 4 meeting to make a decision. The board meets again Oct. 18.

For more information regarding the project see previous story.