Proposed clinic sparks questions
CARMICHAELS – When Cumberland Township officials affirmed to Greene County planners in late May that a proposal to build a drug treatment clinic in the community fit within the local zoning rules, county workers questioned why the municipality did not first hold a hearing.
More than two dozen residents attended Monday night’s Cumberland Township supervisors’ meeting to ask that same question and demand that their municipal leaders re-evaluate plans to allow Greene Medical Center 1 inside the Paisley Industrial Park off of Route 88 about three miles south of Carmichaels.
“Nobody said nothing to nobody,” Cumberland resident Dennis McNett said of the lack of a public hearing by township officials. “How is that possible?”
Township Zoning Code Enforcement Officer Ann Bargerstock said a hearing was not required because the clinic fits under the industrial park’s mixed-use commercial permit, and that a zoning hearing might have actually prompted legal action by the developer.
DJ Realty Holdings LLC purchased land in the park with plans to construct a 4,800-square-foot medical building for addiction services at the industrial park.
“If we make someone have a hearing who doesn’t need a hearing, then we’re impinging on their right to build on that property,” Bargerstock said. “Methadone clinics are a very dicey issue.”
But in a June 3 letter to Cumberland Township officials, county Planning Commission solicitor Kevin O’Malley disagreed with that viewpoint and claimed a clinic needs a “special exception” to be placed in an industrial or commercially zoned area.
“In reviewing Cumberland’s ordinance, a medical center is defined as a ‘special exception,’ and according to the zoning ordinance ‘shall’ be subject to a Zoning Hearing Board and an order issued by the Board,” O’Malley wrote in the letter. “Accordingly, I will provide your letter to the planning commission with the application, when it is properly on the agenda. In the interim, I encourage you and Cumberland Township to reconsider, to assure that public disclosure is conducted to afford people their right to fully understand all aspects of a project.”
Robbie Matesic, executive director of Greene County Economic Development, said once township officials affirmed that the clinic was permitted in the industrial park under the municipality’s zoning ordinance, the matter was sent to the county planning commission. The planning commission reviewed its site plan and approved it with conditions on June 8 under its subdivision and land development ordinance.
However, the county must hold another hearing on the matter and approve it once again since the nearest property owners, Jason and Heidi Whipkey, were mistakenly not informed of the first hearing. Matesic said they will be permitted to attend the county’s next planning meeting, either later this month or at its regular meeting Aug. 3, to express their concerns and ask for certain conditions, such as buffers, fencing and lighting, among other requests.
Matesic said if the township decides retroactively to hold a zoning hearing on the matter, the county’s approval would be delayed or voided until the plan is formally approved at the township level.
The Whipkeys, along with nearly 25 other people, decided to voice their concerns earlier than that at Monday night’s township meeting in which they demanded the supervisors block its construction.
“This whole thing was trying to be slid under the rug,” township resident Dave Whipkey said.
Board of Supervisors Chairman Bill Groves said the township’s hands are tied on the matter and that they must allow such facilities somewhere in the township. He admitted the matter could have been handled differently.
“When I sit here and act on behalf of the township, I have to do what the township laws say … and protect the township,” Groves said. “Perhaps we made a mistake not bringing it up at a meeting and letting people know. I do not believe we have a tool to stop that thing.”
Township solicitor Dennis Makel said they can looking into drafting conditions about lighting and other safety concerns, but they might also face a lawsuit from the developer if they “make it difficult” to build the clinic there.
“We’re here to listen,” Makel said. “(The supervisors) were concerned about what you would say and what we could do about it.”
Investigating various conditions did not sit well with residents who said they did not want a drug clinic at that site or other parts of the township.
“Those are just Band-Aids on a boo-boo,” Chris Whipkey said. “We need to stop this regardless. It’s going to ruin the community.”
The township’s zoning ordinance, which local officials said they are planning to update, does not list a “clinic” as a “permitted principal” use in industrial or commercial districts. It is, however, listed under special exemptions, along with other facilities such as medical labs, funeral parlors and animal hospitals.
Bargerstock said the clinic is permitted because it is specialized and geared toward a “single population” of people trying to be cured of drug addiction. She added that a water hauling company and ambulance service both went into the industrial park without first being scrutinized during a public hearing.
“They don’t want it anywhere. I can’t do that,” Bargerstock said about the residents after the meeting. “I don’t particularly want one either, but I have a job to do and that’s uphold the ordinance and laws.
“Could we have had a public hearing? Perhaps, but we don’t have public hearing for other (properties) so we’re singling them out for different treatment.”