Rockland restricts methadone clinics

ROCKLAND – City councilors put the squeeze on a proposed methadone clinic Monday by voting to restrict such facilities to a zone that exists only along a small stretch of Route 90.

Initially, the council planned to vote on also allowing such clinics in shopping center zones, which might have given the owners of Turning Tide Inc. more options for siting its methadone clinic. Before that vote, however, Councilor Adele Grossman Faber motioned to delete the plaza commercial zone from the ordinance, which was in final reading. The amendment passed 3-2, with Councilors Brian Harden and Carol Maines opposed.

Ultimately, the zone change permitting “sole source pharmacies” only on Route 90 passed by an identical vote. The change takes effect in 30 days.

Before the votes, Route 90 business owners made a plea to councilors not to allow methadone clinics anywhere in the city.

“A clinic such as the one proposed belongs in a hospital setting,” Ed LaFlamme, owner of Swift’s Storage on Route 90, said while reading from a letter signed by seven neighboring business owners. “Both of the zones that you propose have day care centers in the immediate vicinity, limited public services and nearby residences.

“In the case of Route 90, Rockland’s two-tenths of a mile is all commercial,” LaFlamme said. “However, it is nestled between two residential areas, with several day care providers, the [Coastal] Community Action Program site bringing Head Start, and a gymnastics facility, all within sight of Rockland’s tiny piece of the road.”

Route 90 folks weren’t the only ones displeased with the council’s decision.

Portland lawyer John P. Doyle Jr., representing Turning Tide, had asked city officials to consider other alternatives before voting, including the location of a clinic at Tuttle’s Shoe Barn on U.S. Route 1, located a short distance from City Hall. Turning Tide has a letter of intent to purchase it, he said.

Outside the meeting, Doyle said he hopes to have “an avenue” to bring back to the council the former shoe store location. Otherwise, Turning Tide may be forced to take the matter to court, he said, pointing to a Dec. 10 letter to the city.

The correspondence cites the targeted nature of the proposed ordinance amendments violating Turning Tide’s rights of due process and the Americans with Disabilities Act and the Rehabilitation Act.

Originally, Turning Tide wanted to open its clinic at 77 Park St., formerly the location of CarQuest Auto Parts.

Citizen opposition to the location because of its close proximity to a Head Start program and residential properties, along with its being considered the “gateway to Rockland,” prompted the council move to define methadone clinics as sole source pharmacies and then fit the latter into the city’s zoning.

Rockland lawyer Randal Watkinson was also vocal about the pending vote, saying his client, Debbie Orloff, who owns 77 Park St. and has a signed lease with Turning Tide, wanted the council to consider making methadone clinics a conditional use for that location.

“I ask you to fight long and hard,” Daryle Weiss, a Rockland District High School coach, said, urging the council to face potential litigation.

As a city resident, Weiss said he would rather see the city go “financially bankrupt than morally bankrupt.”