Glen Cove Residents Resist Home For Women With Eating Disorders

GLEN COVE, N.Y. (CBSNewYork) -- Women in one Long Island community are pleading with lawmakers to open a residential treatment center in their neighborhood.

Some homeowners worry the facility would destroy the area's character.

Dancer Jennifer Converse is recovering from anorexia.

"I refused to leave my family to go to a residential treatment that's out of state," she said.

She had no options close to home.

Now, a California company -- Monte Nido -- wants to become the first on Long Island to open an eating disorder haven for women. The proposed location is a $2.5-million Glen Cove mansion on St. Andrew's Lane.

"We are not against these women, we just feel it's in the wrong area," Susan Corbo said, "I feel it is more of a profit organization."

The brick colonial on 1.5 acres, would offer 14 residential beds across from the historic Nassau Country Club, and the Glen Cove LIRR station built for JP Morgan in 1895.

"It sets up a nice gracious way of life that would be lost with the asphalt," Joan Hawkins said.

Some worry about the ten new parking spaces on the property, and traffic. They're concerned it will change the character of the neighborhood.

They let their voices be heard at the Glen Cove public hearing, but Samantha Farber also testified.

"It is one of the most debilitating, disabling things I've ever experienced in my life. I was a walking shell," she said.

She asked for compassion for people with anorexia and bulimia -- suffering from a mental illness and physical disability, and desperate for a residential teamwork treatment.

"When they're saying they don't want it in that house, they are telling people who are struggling they don't believe in treating them," Faber said.

"This is really important for us to open our arms, and welcome this amazing treatment center," Converse added.

Frank Rainone's house across the street has been on the market.

"A real buyer said to me, 'I will not buy the house, I have two small children.' Her perception was  it's dangerous," he said.

The mayor and city council asked for more time to deliberate, and were given a 10 day extension.

Their decision on the house will come at the end of the month.

A state law called the Padavan Law prevents communities from blocking such group homes except under limited circumstances.