Some Kensington residents say not in my backyard to sex therapy business

By Manny Lopez

The issue of whether to grant a neighborhood use permit to a home-based sex therapy business drew concerned residents to the Kensington-Talmadge Planning Group’s regular meeting on Dec. 8.
Neighbors of Dr. Mary Lou MacIlvaine, a psychologist and certified sex therapist who has worked from her single-family residence on Ridgeway Drive in Kensington for the past four years, turned out to raise safety issues about such an establishment operating in their backyard.
Several residents who spoke at the meeting, held at the Kensington Community Church, charged that the increased traffic and possible threat from sex offenders creates a public nuisance that could devalue property prices or make homes in the area harder to sell.
Despite a subcommittee’s recommendation to deny the permit, the KTPG voted in favor of approving the NUP by a margin of 10 to three, with two members absent. Within days of the decision, a permit was issued by the city of San Diego’s Development Services Department.
“The hardest part for me was being in the position of being judged guilty by so many neighbors and having to devise a way to fight it,” said MacIlvaine in a written response, adding that she fought very hard to prove her innocence. “It was an outrage, like becoming the target of a witch hunt. It was un-American.”
MacIlvaine was accompanied to the KTPG’s meeting by her attorney, Charles V. Berwanger, her contractor, R.L. Houk, and a group of well- wishers and supporters. Approximately 30 members of the community submitted speaker request forms.
In draft minutes of the meeting, obtained from the KTPG Website, a neighbor opposed to the granting of a permit stated that just because a patient may not be a convicted sex offender, there could be undiagnosed concerns in treating people who are in need of advanced sexual therapy.
Another neighbor questioned why MacIlvaine had not applied for the required permit when she first began practicing from her home, and objected to one being issued on the grounds that the location is not zoned for a business.
Sara Gros-Cloren, a resident of the neighborhood for the last 25 years. said that although MacIlvaine usually sees only four to five patients daily, five days per week, it is still excessive for a quiet residential street. Gros-Cloren described the area of Ridgeway Drive, where MacIlvaine’s home is located, as a quiet cul-de-sac, with many expensive homes.
“It’s just a preference that there not be a business where you have that many clients coming that frequently down a quiet street,” Gros-Cloren said. “Especially a sex therapy business.”
According to Tom Adam, chair of the Project Review subcommittee, the neighborhood is zoned to allow this type of home use, but certain conditions must be met, and a permit must be received from the city.
Among MacIlvaine’s supporters at the meeting was a psychotherapist who said that for years he and his wife operated their home-based practice just three doors down from hers. He added that, unfortunately, the moment anyone hears anything about sex, they immediately think about degeneration or perversion. The therapist also said that MacIlvaine is being condemned wrongfully and it reminded him of a witch hunt.
In a letter submitted to the planning group by Charles Konia, M.D., a psychiatrist from Easton, Pa., who supervises MacIlvaine’s clinical work, Konia stated that she is currently treating a physician, attorney, engineer, university professor, policeman and an accountant, among others. Konia also stated that MacIlvaine has never treated patients with a criminal record, such as registered sex offenders, because they are outside of her field of training.
“The primary problem was people thinking they knew what a sex therapist is,” said MacIlvaine. They assume it was something ugly or unsavory involving sexual activities in session.”
According to MacIlvaine, the first complaint lodged against her home-based outpatient business came from a neighbor who claimed to have heard the sound of “orgastic release” emanating from her property.