Drug clinic still worries neighbors

BANGOR – Some future neighbors of a methadone clinic opening next month at a busy Hogan Road strip mall remain wary about potential problems, while others are taking a wait-and-see approach.

Colonial Management Group, which operates nearly 50 substance abuse treatment facilities in 18 states, has met its state and federal licensing requirements.

With that now accomplished, the company plans to begin providing services to people with addictions to opiates at its offices at the Maine Square Mall on Nov. 28, the Monday after Thanksgiving. The clinic eventually could serve as many as 250 patients.

“As a citizen, I don’t believe it belongs in a shopping center,” Douglas Grant of Bangor, manager of one of the businesses located at mall, said Friday. “I think it’s a travesty that the state and city allow this to happen.”

Grant, who has opposed Colonial Management Group’s clinic since the company’s plans became public last November, said he is still worried about a parking crunch in the mall’s parking lot, as well as the potential for increased crime, including drug activity and loitering.

“That’s my concern,” he said. “What is going to be our recourse for that?”

Grant is one of many Bangor residents who would have preferred to see the clinic open in a medical setting, like the one operated by Acadia Hospital on its Stillwater Avenue campus.

But because city zoning ordinances at the time allowed such clinics to locate in commercial spaces, the city was required to grant Colonial a building permit.

Fellow mall tenant Monica Cameron, owner of Malibu Tans, had a different view.

“[Colonial] has always had an open-door policy,” Cameron said Friday, adding that Lynn Costigan, Colonial’s associate director for new development, has answered all of her questions about the clinic and its operation.

Cameron said that she was told Colonial had a “zero-tolerance policy” toward people who don’t follow the clinic’s rules, and that she is not anticipating any major issues to result from the clinic.

“I’ll react if there is a problem,” Cameron said, adding that she has informed her customers the clinic is coming and they have been accepting.

“We have a very open-minded clientele,” she said.

Despite Costigan’s efforts to allay fears through education, concerns remain, at least among some mall tenants.

In response to parking concerns, Costigan earlier noted that most of the patients who will be coming to the clinic for their daily doses will have come and gone before most of the other mall businesses open.

A brochure for the clinic shows it will operate seven days a week, with dosing from 5:30 to 10:30 a.m. weekdays and 6 to 9 a.m. weekends.

During a meeting Thursday of a city advisory committee appointed to monitor the clinic, Costigan said security at the clinic will be tight, with surveillance cameras, motion detectors and security patrols in the parking lot.

Also, the company and the state both have stringent policies regarding take-home privileges, which must be earned.

The advisory group, chaired by City Councilor Susan Hawes, scheduled a meeting with Colonial representatives and mall tenants for Nov. 21.

Bill Lowenstein, associate director of the state Office of Substance Abuse and a committee member, said Thursday that methadone clinics have received negative publicity in Maine, but that Bangor’s positive experience with Acadia could work in Colonial’s favor.

“The thing is a lot of people are getting better and that’s the kind of thing that doesn’t get publicized,” he said.

He also said the state will continue to monitor the new clinic.

“Just because [Colonial] has been granted a license, it doesn’t mean our oversight has stopped,” he said.