Perry Hall residents are protesting what could be Baltimore County?s fifth private, for-profit methadone clinic, citing a legally controversial county zoning law banishing them to industrial areas.
More than 500 residents signed a petition opposing a clinic proposed on Belair Road near White Marsh Boulevard, a commercial strip that comes within 90 feet of the nearest home. They are fighting a request by the clinic?s owner for an exception to a zoning law requiring medical clinics ? including methadone facilities ? to be at least 750 feet from homes.
“We feel like the County Council, our elected officials, thought this was in the best interest of the citizens of Baltimore County,” said Peggy Winchester, president of the South Perry Hall Improvement Association. “That?s why they passed this.”
The zoning law has already been tested in court, but the ruling was far from definitive. In February, a panel of judges on the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, one level below the U.S. Supreme Court, said the council did not provide the owner of a Pikesville methadone clinic due process when the law was passed in 2002. But the judges left open a debate on whether the law ? passed after clinic neighbors complained about crime associated with drug addicts ? violated the Americans With Disabilities Act.
The judges remanded the question to federal district court, and until that happens, the county is free to enforce the law, officials said.
In Perry Hall, clinic owner Mark Melenders plans to distribute methadone, a synthetic opiate used to treat heroin addiction, between 5 a.m. and noon six days per week, said his attorney, Louis Glick.
At a hearing before the county?s zoning commissioner earlier this month, Glick said Melenders deserves an exception to the zoning law because the area is mostly commercial.
“People are worried we will have people wandering around the neighborhood, but it?s not designed for that,” Glick said. “It?s designed for people who drive there, get their treatment and leave.”
If approved, the center will be the county?s fifth methadone facility, including others in Pikesville, Woodlawn, Dundalk and a public-private clinic in Timonium. Two others have applied for state permits.
Both sides have vowed to appeal the zoning commissioner?s ruling.
