Golden Gate residents, planning commission oppose proposed location of behavioral health center

David Lawrence Center, which has been providing mental health services to Collier County for about five decades, didn’t receive a positive recommendation from the Collier County Planning Commission last week for the location of its new behavioral health center. 

The proposed location for a 64,000-square-foot, 102-bed facility is on a county-owned 5.15-acre plot of land adjacent to David Lawrence Center on Golden Gate Parkway. The subdistrict that surrounds the center was approved for institutional uses such as care facilities, nursing homes and churches in 2007.  

Expanding mental health services has been a mission of Collier County since 2010, when the Criminal Justice Mental Health and Substance Abuse Planning Council was established through a grant received by the Florida Department of Children and Family Services. In 2019, county commissioners approved a five-year strategic plan to improve behavioral health service access. The top priority in the strategic plan was to build and operate a central receiving facility system to serve those who are experiencing an acute mental health or substance abuse crisis. 

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