Board nixes clinic move

By Matt Snyder
Herald Staff Writer

HERMITAGE January 07, 2009 09:56 pm

— Plans to move a methadone treatment center from East State Street to South Hermitage Road were turned down Wednesday by Hermitage’s Zoning Board.
The board unanimously voted down a request by Discovery House to win a special exception so they can move into a basement office at 850 S. Hermitage Road.
Neighbors of the proposed site complained that the clinic would cause increased traffic and that those seeking treatment for narcotics could cause problems.
Ron Dague said the clinic will draw people from as far as Franklin, Oil City and Ohio to get treatment for their addictions. “We’re not talking quality people. (We’re talking ) people who are admitted drug addicts.”
“I commend them for admitting their problem and looking for help,” Dague said. He just wanted them to move the clinic elsewhere.
Discovery House Program Director Karen DeLeone said no one wants a methadone clinic in their back yard, but it has to go somewhere. She said the South Hermitage Road property is better than the site at 1868 E. State Street because it’s farther from homes and gives them more space to work.
The clinic treats adults with addiction to narcotics, opium-based drugs such as heroin, morphine and OxyContin, on an outpatient basis. Patients get doses of methadone, a drug that helps wean them gradually off narcotics. They also receive counseling.
Ms. DeLeone said the clinic treats 250 to 300 patients per day, who come in between the hours of 5 a.m. and 10 a.m. A sticking point for residents was the lot only had 46 spaces.
Ms. DeLeone said the lot was sufficient because the patients don’t come all at once, and most are only there for a matter of minutes to get their dose. Some do receive half hour counseling sessions. She said a security guard monitors those who wait for rides and keeps the “traffic” of patients flowing.
Many of the clinic’s patients are working professionals and people recovering from drug addiction, Ms. DeLeone said. They have jobs and families and aren’t what people imagine when they think of drug users.
Matt Sracic, a Hermitage resident since 1988, said he already gets enough problems with young “riff raff” buzzing through his neighborhood in cars. He was worried about traffic, suggesting side streets might see increased use, filling residential neighborhoods with traffic.
He added that people with drug problems are hard to predict. “Hey, I commend what you’re trying to do. But I don’t want it in my neighborhood,” Sracic said.
Dague said there had been fights at the clinic’s other location. Ms. DeLeone said there may have been arguments, but no fights in 11 years at the current location. She added that many neighbors didn’t know they even operated there.
Karen Sracic asked one of the South Hermitage Road property’s owners, Todd Donatelli, what happened to plans to put a physical fitness center in the building instead.
“We got turned down because all the residents came and complained about it,” said Donatelli, who is vice president of Pioneer Home Equity.
Donatelli said the economy is in rough shape and he’s just trying to fill floor space with a business that employs residents, provides a service, and that has been in the city for 11 years.
Discovery House Director of Facilities Joseph Renzi said they will continue to look for a place in Hermitage to move the clinic. Its current location is too small and the last remaining office in the building has mold problems.
The board’s decision may be appealed. Their findings of fact and reasons for not permitting the exception will probably be released in a few weeks, said Roger Shaffer, the board’s Solicitor.