Pubdate: Tue, 11 May 2004
Source: Bristol Herald Courier (VA)
Copyright: 2004 Bristol Herald Courier
Contact:  http://www.bristolnews.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1211
Author: Chris Dumond
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?136 (Methadone)

APPEAL OF METHADONE CLINIC RULING DENIED

ABINGDON - A challenge to the earlier denial of zoning approval for a 
methadone clinic in southern Washington County was quickly denied by the 
county's Board of Zoning Appeals Monday night.

Clinic representatives did not make any argument and County Administrator 
Mark Reeter said he believed that none attended the meeting. The board 
ruled unanimously to reject the clinic's appeal.

In December, representatives of South Carolina-based Appalachian Treatment 
Services applied to the county to open a methadone drug treatment center on 
Old Dominion Road near the Bristol city limits.

The proposed center angered some residents of the nearby Lowry Hills 
neighborhood. Residents said they feared that the clinic would bring crime 
and traffic and would devalue their property.

Reeter, acting as the county zoning administrator, denied the application 
in February, noting that the building intended to be used for the clinic 
should not have been there in the first place. Methadone clinics, he added, 
were not allowed or specified anywhere as allowed uses in the zoning ordinance.

The buildings on the property where Appalachian Treatment Services wanted 
to house the clinic are modular homes. They were only allowed there as 
display units and as an office for a modular home sales business, he said. 
Once that business closed, he said, the buildings should have been 
disassembled and hauled off the lot.

He ordered their removal in a February letter to the property owner.

"Manufactured homes on a sales lot are product," he said. "They are not 
permanent. They are no more permanent than cars parked on an automobile 
sales lot. We expect them to be removed."

He said he did not know the home sales business was closed until he got a 
letter asking that he approve a methadone clinic on the site.

Board of Zoning Appeals member Joe Lyle said it was clear that Reeter made 
the right decision.

"The business for which they served is now closed and (the houses) were to 
be removed," Lyle said.

Lyle and fellow board member Bob Vineyard said that whether Reeter properly 
interpreted the zoning ordinance as it pertained to methadone clinics was 
irrelevant.

First, they said, there is no legal building on the property to house the 
clinic.

A new state law sponsored by Sen. William Wampler, R-Bristol, also made the 
issue moot. The law prohibits clinics from locating within a half-mile of a 
daycare center or school. The property on Old Dominion Road is within a 
half-mile of John S. Battle High School.
- ---
MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom