By Rick Dandes
ALLENWOOD — Gregg Township planning commissioners have opened the door to allowing a methadone clinic in the Great Stream Commons business park along Route 15.
Commission members passed a motion 4-1 Wednesday night “to forward a recommendation to township supervisors to amend the current zoning ordinance to allow health care facilities and professional buildings as a conditional use in the commercial manufacturing zone.”
Because a methadone clinic is classified as a health care facility, the clinic, run by Habit OPCO Inc., of Boston, could be a tenant in the industrial park if the supervisors approve the zoning change.
Had the recommendation been voted down, no medical clinic — not a methadone clinic or an eye clinic — would have been permitted inside the business park.
“We can’t discriminate against methadone clinics,” explained commission member Dale Fisher.
“Once we approve this, and I believe that it would be beneficial to the community, there is no turning back. We could be sued if we discriminated against this kind of clinic.”
Committee members said the planned building, about 4,000 square feet, would be owned by the Union County Industrial Development Corp. The clinic would be a tenant.
Voting for the recommendation were commission Chairman Tom Snoody and members Fisher, Dan King and Robert Hemrick. Voting against was Ken Kipp, who expressed reservations about establishing the clinic.
Besides Kipp, there was considerable opposition at the meeting to changing the ordinance.
About 15 residents attended the 90-minute meeting. Also there were Mike Adams the former executive director of the Union County Industrial Development Corp., Debby Schmidt, representing Habit OPCO, and trooper Matt Burrows, of the state police at Milton.
Residents have concerns
Edward Frontz, of Spring Garden, and Emory Martin, of Allenwood, expressed reservations about having the clinic in Allenwood.
Frontz cited problems at the White Deer treatment center, which is an in-patient facility.
“I know it doesn’t operate as an outpatient clinic, but residents in the neighborhood have had problems with crimes, robberies, things being stolen by patients who leave the clinic,” he said.
“All I’m saying is, whatever the decision is, be very careful about the security because we don’t want to have the same problems they do.”
Martin said he was shocked when he read The Daily Item and found there might be a methadone clinic in Allenwood.
‘Do more research’
“That’s why I’m here,” he said. “I think we have to do a lot more research into the possible effects of having a clinic here on the community.
“How does Target feel about having a methadone clinic near where their warehouse is? And where will the patients come from. I know we have a local drug problem, but don’t you think that eventually we’ll have users coming in from larger cities like Philadelphia?”
Adams said Target was aware of the clinic.
“They’ve already sunk $25 million into their project,” he said.
“If they had any objections to this, I believe they would have told me about it.”
Schmidt defended Habit OPCO by saying its goal was to treat patients from within a 35-mile radius.
“Our studies show that methadone outpatient treatment is most effective if patients live no more than 15 to 20 minutes away,” she said. “That’s just a fact.”
King said that until he did research on the subject, he was dead set against the clinic, but now believed it would be beneficial to the community and possibly help stem the local drug problem through community action groups.
But Burrows had doubts about benefits of bringing another clinic into the area. He thought the township should, perhaps, look to expanding the use of the White Deer facility to include some methadone outpatients.
Start of the process
“This is just the start of the process,” cautioned Snoody, after the vote had been taken. “Now this goes to the supervisors, and they will have the ultimate say as to whether the ordinance will be changed. We’ve just made a recommendation.”
The next Gregg Township supervisors meeting is April 5. At that meeting, the date for a public meeting on the subject of the clinic will likely be announced.
