Plans for a 27-bed West Hollywood rehab center have neighbors demanding to know how a luxury facility offering drug and alcohol treatment to an elite clientele could end up within blocks of one of the city’s most famous nightlife scenes.

“We’re half a block from all the bars and clubs on Santa Monica Boulevard, and there are drug dealers that trawl the neighborhood, especially at the weekend,” said Norma Sandler, who has lived in an apartment on the same street as the proposed Klean West Hollywood treatment center for more than 30 years. “To put a drug facility right near all that is ridiculous.”

Klean Chief Executive Andrew Spanswick said he and many of his staff live in West Hollywood and want to help find solutions to the city’s methamphetamine and alcohol problems. Up to three beds will be available free of charge to people who cannot afford the fees, which will run up to $28,000 a month, he said. Spanswick also argued that locating a treatment center within an urban setting could offer advantages over Malibu, Palm Springs and more isolated locales, which have been magnets for celebrities seeking 30-day detox programs.

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