The Scarborough Town Council approved the town’s first methadone clinic ordinance Wednesday, but not before amending the proposal to make it stricter.
The ordinance will allow for the construction of methadone clinics in industrial zones. But by increasing the distance a clinic must be from particular types of property, the council further limited the possible building areas to just a handful in town.
The new zone is in response to a request the town received from an unnamed company exploring the possibility of building a methadone clinic in Scarborough. Shortly thereafter the town placed a moratorium on the construction of methadone clinics and began revamping its ordinances to better accommodate them. However, the town no longer has the option of enacting another emergency moratorium, Town Manager Ron Owens said.
Some councilors questioned if the new ordinance was even necessary since members of the council did not want to encourage the development of a methadone clinic here.
“I’m against this,” said Councilor Patrick O’Reilly. “I don’t think we should bow to legal pressure.”
Owens said if the town does not include a location for a methadone clinic it is leaving itself open for future litigation. If a developer successfully sued the town on the issue one possible outcome is that a judge could allow one to be located anywhere in town.
O’Reilly said a judge would most likely require the town to develop a zone for the use, similar to what happened with the Great American Neighborhood lawsuit, where a developer sued the town over the zoning of a residential area. However, Owens said that a judge might rule that the GAN suit was forewarning for the town, and might be stricter in the future.
Councilor Sylvia Most said that situation was settled because the town and developers reached an agreement, which might not be possible if a similar situation arose in the future.
“In my mind this is the minimum allowed that covers us in case of a lawsuit,” she said. “I think we leave ourselves open to risk by failing to approve this.”
Other councilors agreed and felt the best way to handle the situation was to make the zone stricter thereby eliminating some potential building sites, but leaving enough to accommodate the law.
“I’d rather allow them somewhere that’s well away from residential areas,” said Councilor Steve Ross.
The council agreed to require the clinic be more than 1,500 feet from residences, schools, playgrounds, parks, day care centers, nursery schools or town-owned property in the industrial zones.
In other business, the council approved an amendment to the land excavation ordinance that would allow RJ Grondin and Sons to take 30,000 cubic yards of gravel and sand to the Wal-Mart construction site off Spring Street and then store another 30,000 cubic yards of topsoil from the construction site on its property.
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