Councilman opposed plan for Suboxone clinic
WAYNESBURG – Plans to open a Suboxone clinic in downtown Waynesburg were not well received Monday by at least one member of Waynesburg Borough Council.
A zoning hearing will be held next month on a permit issued to The Bridge into Wellness Center, which plans to open a clinic in Victoria Square across High Street from the borough building.
Assistant borough manager Bryan Cumberledge told council he was required to issue the center a zoning permit because under the borough zoning ordinance, a “doctor’s office” is a permitted use in the downtown zoning district.
The ordinance allows for a zoning permit to be challenged within 30 days of its issuance, however, and the center’s permit was challenged, resulting in the need for the zoning hearing, Cumberledge said.
Councilman Mark Fischer spoke against the center, questioning whether such clinics are legitimate and effective in treating addiction or are simply “pill mills.”
“We don’t need this in our town,” Fischer said, telling council about a recent incident during which he found a man lying on his vehicle at night who when confronted became belligerent. He was told the man was on Suboxone.
Fischer admitted the borough “has its hands tied” in regard to stopping clinics from opening, but said “shame on” the state for not better regulating them and on the landlords who rent to them.
The zoning hearing for the center will be held at 7 p.m. July 5, Cumberledge said.
Cumberledge also reported he had visited the other Suboxone clinic now operating downtown, A&R Solutions, at 62 W. High St. That clinic is open only one Saturday a month, he said.
A number of people had been outside the clinic on the Saturday he stopped there and, he said, the person in charge of the clinic told him the clinic would in the future try to do a better job of scheduling patients so not everyone is there at one time.
Cumberledge said he also asked the center to do something to prevent the people waiting outside from throwing their cigarette butts on the sidewalk and in the street.
Borough manager Mike Simms said he also had received a complaint from one of the merchants about people who looked like “zombies” loitering on the street when the clinic was open.
In other business, council agreed to call a special meeting to consider a proposal from its sewage engineer, Gannett Fleming, to prepare engineering plans to move a sewer line at the Crawford Bridge on Porter Street.
Bob Dengler of Gannett Fleming told council the state Department of Transportation plans to replace the bridge next year and has asked for the borough’s line relocation plans by the end of August.
Dengler said he had just received the notice and would need a few days to develop a proposal for council for preparing the engineering work.
Borough engineer Mike Dufalla also was asked to review the state’s bridge replacement plans to make sure the bridge will include a sidewalk to permit pedestrians to cross over to Crawford Field.
The bridge is being replaced under the state’s rapid bridge replacement program and normally the bridge designs are “bare bones” without such amenities as sidewalks, Dufalla said.