A substance abuse treatment center that lost its long-time home to the Springfield casino project may have finally found a new one.

One could call this Déjà vu all over again. Steve O’Neill of the Hampden County Sheriff’s Office says the Western Massachusetts Correctional Alcohol Center (WMCAC), currently in Holyoke, will move to a former nursing home on Mill Street. O’Neill says the site had been the first choice to re-locate, but plans fell through. Now, he says, a lease with new owners will bring the facility back to Springfield.

“We intend to be a vibrant, responsible, respectful neighbor,” says O’Neill.

The Sheriff’s office will detail its plans for the center to neighborhood residents at a meeting next Thursday. But the news is not sitting well with City Councilor Melvin Edwards, who also heads the Maple-High-Six Corners Neighborhood Council. Given the facility’s potential impact on three neighborhoods, Edwards says such a meeting should have come before a lease was signed.

“I’m hopeful that people will recognize the importance of coming out voicing their opinion…one way or the other. But I’m certainly disappointed that it’s already that far along. You’re already eating the cookie, and you want to ask me if you can have it. Well, you already bit into it. What am I going to tell you, no?” says Edwards.

Sheriff Michael Ashe had previously signed a lease to house the treatment center in the North End, but that deal was scuttled after opposition from residents, including many who complained they had little input.

A public meeting to inform residents about the new WMCAC location will be held Thursday, 11 February at 6pm at the J.C. Williams Community Center on Florence Road, Springfield 6pm.