Pubdate: Fri, 31 Oct 2003
Source: Roanoke Times (VA)
Copyright: 2003 Roanoke Times
Contact:  http://www.roanoke.com/roatimes/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/368
Author: Laurence Hammack
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?136 (Methadone)

LIFE CENTER FILES LAWSUIT TO OPEN METHADONE CLINIC

At Issue Is The Interpretation Of Roanoke County's Zoning Of The Property.

Three days after a Roanoke County supervisor said "see you in court," that 
is where a controversial methadone clinic has taken the county.

In court papers filed Wednesday against the Board of Supervisors, the Life 
Center of Galax asked a Circuit Court judge to rule that it has a vested 
right to open a methadone clinic at Colonial Avenue and Ogden Road.

That right, the drug treatment center maintains, is based on steps it took 
- - which include signing a lease and applying for a state license - after 
being told by the county in June that a methadone clinic is allowed under 
the property's zoning, which permits medical offices.

The county's zoning administrator later changed his interpretation of the 
ordinance, saying new information led him to conclude that a methadone 
clinic is not the same as a medical office.

Even if a judge were to decide the clinic had a vested right, that might 
not resolve the issue, county attorney Paul Mahoney said. That's because of 
additional issues the Life Center raised earlier this week when it appealed 
the county's denial of a business license for the clinic to both the board 
of supervisors and the Board of Zoning Appeals.

"It is confusing because we have three different actions going on and they 
overlap, but one is not completely congruent with the other," Mahoney said.

A Circuit Court judge, the supervisors and the Board of Zoning Appeals are 
each being asked to resolve a different issue:

n The Board of Zoning Appeals will review a decision by Zoning 
Administrator David Holladay, who determined last month that the Colonial 
Avenue site was not zoned appropriately for a methadone clinic, which in 
turn resulted in the denial of a business license.

After first telling the Life Center in June that a methadone clinic falls 
into the category of a medical office, Holladay said last month that new 
information about the clinic's operations led him to change that 
interpretation.

n The board of supervisors will rule on whether a zoning condition enacted 
in 1989 limiting use of the site to a family medical office still applies, 
even though the word "family" was omitted from a 1997 zoning amendment.

The county maintains that the word "family" was inadvertently dropped from 
the amendment but should still apply - thus making the site's zoning more 
restrictive than that for a simple medical office.

n A Circuit Court judge will decide if the Life Center had a vested right 
to operate the clinic, a determination that by law zoning administrators 
cannot make.

Mahoney said that in order for the Life Center to open the clinic, it must 
prevail on all three fronts. In other words, the zoning determinations 
could be upheld by the county even if a judge were to find the center had 
vested rights.

But that scenario is complicated by the Life Center's right to appeal a 
decision by the board of supervisors or the Board of Zoning Appeals to 
Circuit Court - raising the possibility that there could be two pending 
legal cases involving the methadone clinic. If that happens, Mahoney said, 
the two cases might be consolidated.

Yet another possibility is that a judge's ruling on the vested right issue 
might be broad enough to render moot any actions by the supervisors or the 
Board of Zoning Appeals.

"In a way, it's an attempt to kind of end-run some of the administrative 
appeals we have pending," Mahoney said of the Life Center's filing in 
Circuit Court.

Ed Natt, a Roanoke County attorney who represents the Life Center, could 
not be reached for comment Thursday.

Meanwhile, residents opposed to the methadone clinic have hired their own 
attorney but so far are staying out of the legal fray.

Michael Pace, a Roanoke lawyer who represents the group, said he plans to 
speak against the clinic's proposed location at meetings of the board of 
supervisors and Board of Zoning Appeals. Neither body has scheduled a time 
to take up the issue, although they are expected to act before a judge does.

Residents fear the clinic, which will provide daily doses of methadone to 
recovering addicts of opium-based drugs like OxyContin and heroin, will 
bring crime, traffic congestion and decreased property values to their homes.

"No human being in his right mind thinks that this is the appropriate 
facility for this location," Cave Spring Supervisor Fuzzy Minnix said 
Tuesday at a board meeting. By then, the county was already expecting to be 
sued over the issue. "See you in court," Minnix said.
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom