Source: The News & Advance, Lynchburg, Va.迷利倉Jan. 18--A would-be substance abuse treatment center planned for Madison Heights has withdrawn its zoning application.The Florida-based Colonial Management Group sought a zoning permit for a clinic slated to occupy several suites of the Seminole Shopping Center in Madison Heights.According to the application, the proposed facility was listed as "clinic and counseling" and would have employed 15 people. The clinic would have provided outpatient substance abuse treatment and counseling, including the prescription of methadone, a synthetic drug used to overcome addictions to heroin and other drugs.A brief email sent to Amherst County Planning and Zoning Director Jeremy Bryant on Tuesday, from Preston Bryant, an attorney representing CMG, states the group wants to withdraw the application and to have consideration withdrawn from the agenda of the Planning Commission's Jan. 16 meeting.No reason was given.The location of the proposed clinic is zoned General Commercial (B-2) district, which was problematic, Jeremy Bryant explained at a Jan. 7 Amherst County Board of Supervisors meeting.In county code, "medical facilities" are permitted uses within shopping centers in the B-2 district, but the code gives no clear definition as to what constitutes such a facility."Clinics and medical offices" are defined as having physicians or other licensed personnel "of the healing arts" where patients are examined and treated on an outpatient basis.Substance abuse treatment facilities are special exception uses within the B-2 district and are defined as places "used for the treatment of alcohol or other drug abuse," which provide meals and lodging.Since the proposed facility would not provide meals or lodging, it does not align with the county's definition for substance abuse facilities, Jeremy Bryant said."I don't believe that what is proposed is, in my mind as the zoning administrator, a medical facility. It may be close," he said.Two lawyers representing the facility's management company disagreed."The use here is clearly, in every sense of the word, a medical facility," countered Brian Jackson of the Richmond-based law firm Hirschler Fleischer.Referencing materials that were presented to the board, Jackson said the proposed facility fits "squarely within the ordinance.""I don't see how reasonable minds could look at that and what this facility is, and say, it's not a medical facility," Jackson said. "It would not be appropriate for the boa迷你倉d to intervene under the ordinance because it is a right."According to Colonial Management Group's website, the company operates outpatient clinics that provide individual and group counseling services in several locations throughout the United States, including two in Richmond.According to Preston Bryant, the facility would have had licensed physicians, nurses and counselors and would treat and provide counseling services to substance abusers."Because this is, on its face, a medical facility, we believe that it qualifies under the law, under the zoning ordinance, as a medical facility," he said.County questions aside, the facility faces an added burden from a section of state code that deals with licensure "of certain providers.""There appears to be a state code that regulates how close these facilities can be to day care centers and schools," Jeremy Bryant said.The code states the Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental Services will not grant an initial license to a provider that uses methadone or similar drugs to treat substance abuse, if the provider is located within a half mile of a licensed day care center or a public or private K-12 school unless the provider is a hospital or an agency of the state.The Seminole Shopping Center is at 119 Seminole Plaza in Madison Heights. Temple Christian School is less than a mile from the plaza, according to estimates from Google Maps, and Jeremy Bryant said two daycare centers could be within a half mile, based on preliminary geographical estimates."Is this a methadone clinic or is it a medical facility?" asked District 2 Supervisor Claudia Tucker.Jackson responded the dispensing of methadone is only one aspect of the facility's services."Some people come only for counseling ... it is an outpatient treatment facility like you see everywhere else," Jackson said. "Maybe it includes some aspects of the medical world that one might find objectionable, but you can't say it's not a medical facility."After the meeting, Amherst County Sheriff Jimmy Ayers appeared unmoved by the attorneys' presentation. Methadone is an addictive substance that sometimes is sold on the streets for other illicit drugs, Ayers said. Addicts need treatment services, but there are other resources for people to get help, he said."To me, it's not rehabilitation," Ayers said.Copyright: ___ (c)2014 The News & Advance (Lynchburg, Va.) Visit The News & Advance (Lynchburg, Va.) at .newsadvance.com Distributed by MCT Information Services自存倉
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