An outpatient drug clinic is being proposed on Main Street, but it may face opposition from City Hall.
Officials from the Shelton-based Regional Network of Programs, Inc. want to open the “Center for Human Services” on the first floor of 158 Main St.
The entrance to the program would be on West Main Street, in front of the Ansonia train station.
The service would provide a “medication-assisted treatment program for opiate addicted persons,” according to an application filed in June with the state Department of Public Health.
The medication dispensed would include methadone and Suboxone, according to the application. Both medications are used to treat people addicted to heroin. Additional medication would be used to help people addicted to prescription pills.
The office would also offer counseling services and HIV and STD testing for its clients and would be open Monday through Saturday from 6 a.m. to 7 p.m.
Zoning Issue?
However, city officials think the clinic would violate local zoning rules.
While medical and dental clinics are allowed at 158 Main St., a list of permitted uses there “expressly” excludes “clinics for the insane, alcoholics and drug addicts,” according to a section of Ansonia zoning law, a copy of which is posted below.
Article continues after the document.
Mayor James Della Volpe said the rule predates his administration. It was written to prevent rehabs and methadone clinics from opening on Main Street.
“This came up and was dealt with years ago,” Della Volpe said Tuesday.
When asked whether there’s any way the clinic would be allowed at that spot, the mayor said: “No, not at all.”
Kevin Blake, the city’s corporation counsel, said he had to research the issue before commenting. He said repeatedly Tuesday the clinic hasn’t submitted an application to the city.
Reaction
John Hamilton, chief executive officer of Regional Network of Programs, said his agency stopped by Ansonia City Hall earlier this month to inquire about permits. The zoning officer gave them a copy of the document posted above.
Hamilton said he was baffled by the the out-of-date reference to “the insane, alcoholics and drug addicts.” He questioned whether such language was legal.
“It would seem to fly in the face of the Americans With Disabilities Act,” Hamilton said.
Nevertheless, Hamilton said he still hopes to open the clinic — and he’s willing to talk to anyone in the city who is worried.
“It seems there may be some confusion about what we want to do,” Hamilton said.
Population
Hamilton said his agency has clinics in Bridgeport and Stratford. Its administrative offices are in Shelton.
They want to open in Ansonia because Valley residents who need the service now travel to the Bridgeport clinic. The idea is to meet their needs closer to home.
About 200 people from the lower Valley would visit the Ansonia clinic a day, Hamilton said, including 90 people who live in Ansonia.
“We’ll offer outpatient counseling, individual, group and family counseling and we’ll provide medication for people struggling with prescription drug abuse, particularly young adults in the community,” Hamilton said.
There won’t be people lining up on Main Street waiting for methadone, Hamilton said. That doesn’t reflect modern counseling, Hamilton said.
“You really wouldn’t see anything. We need to protect our clients’ confidentiality. The entrance would be in the back. Anyone walking in would look like they would be going into Quest lab, or anything else in the building,” Hamilton said.
A 250-patient methadone clinic was proposed in Ansonia in the late 1980s. It was met with local opposition, according to this article published in The New York Times.
Next Step
Hamilton said his agency will be submitting an application to the city’s Zoning Board of Appeals for permission to open on Main Street — even though he doesn’t think the agency has to do so.
“Instead of having our clients from Ansonia down to Bridgeport, which, for some of them, is probably not the best place to be because it could have been a place where they got drugs previously, we can have them get supported treatment in their communities — they can continue to be productive members of the community,” Hamilton said.
Note: The Valley Indy is on the third floor of 158 Main St.
