Aug 1, 2016 4 min read

WAYNESBURG – Waynesburg Zoning Hearing Board agreed Monday to allow a Suboxone clinic to open in Victoria Square on High Street after receiving additional details about its operations.

The Bridge into Wellness received a zoning permit to open the clinic in May after the zoning officer determined it complied with the zoning ordinance, under which a doctor’s office is a permitted use in the downtown area, which is zoned B-1 business.

The permit was appealed by downtown merchants who were concerned about the type of people the clinic would attract, citing problems primarily created by another clinic that opened earlier down the street.

The board heard testimony on the appeal last month and tabled action until additional information regarding the clinic’s operations could be provided.

It voted Monday to reject the merchants’ appeal after receiving more details from the clinic’s owners, Marisa Terry and Nicole Wray. None of the merchants who were originally against the clinic attended the hearing.

The clinic will be on the main floor of Victoria Square at 95 E. High St. It will have a physician’s room, two waiting rooms, a recovery room and bathroom for patients only.

The clinic will be operated by three or four employees, including a doctor and a security guard, and patients will be seen by appointment. “Just like a regular doctor’s office,” Wray said.

The clinic will not dispense Suboxone or offer counseling. Those who seek treatment will receive a prescription for the medicine and are required to be enrolled in a counseling program, Terry said earlier.

The security guard will be employed not for the safety of those working in the clinic, Terry said Monday. “It’s more for the concerns of the community, to avoid loitering; that was the complaint from the community,” she said.

The clinic planned to be open one to four days a month, based on the need for the services. However, when board chairman Adam Chapman noted four days would be the limit of the zoning approval, Terry asked for it be raised to eight days, just to give the clinic some leeway.

The days of the week the clinic would open and the office hours would be determined by the availability of the physician, Wray said. It could be any day of the week, but the hours would probably be 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., she said.

She also told the board the clinic currently doesn’t have a doctor to operate the clinic and is in the process of hiring one. The clinic would see 15 to 30 patients in a day.

It was noted during questions from the public an existing clinic that prescribes Suboxone already has an office in Victoria Square and has been operating since 2007. Zoning officer Bryan Cumberledge said he was unaware of the other clinic until recently.

Several questions were asked about the clinic’s former doctor. One woman claimed the doctor the clinic had employed the one day it was opened after it originally received zoning approval was not licensed in Pennsylvania, an allegation the clinic owners denied.

Chapman also said the question about the former physician was not relevant to the zoning board’s approval. He noted the board had to make its decision based on the zoning ordinance and the application before it.

He did ask Wray and Terry if the clinic and its physician would have all the required licenses and certifications. They said it will meet all legal requirements. He also asked if they would provide this documentation to the zoning officer and they said they would do so.

In its motion, the board approved an amended zoning application for the clinic allowing it to operate under the terms stated by Wray and Terry for up to eight days a month.