Feb 29, 2016 3 min read

PAISLEY – The developer who planned last year to build a drug treatment clinic in Cumberland Township before community backlash scuttled the project is moving forward with construction on a similar facility less than a mile away in Monongahela Township.

DJ Realty Holdings, which wanted to build a methadone clinic in Paisley Industrial Park, paid $475,000 Jan. 7 to purchase two tracts of land at 2695 E. Roy Furman Highway from Jason and Heidi Whipkey.

Jimmy Jones, the local builder involved in the project, said they are renovating a building on the property, but there is no timeline for when the drug treatment center will open. He declined to name what organization or doctor will be operating the facility designed to treat recovering heroin addicts.

He said the new location is a better fit than the industrial park, and they secured all proper permits from Monongahela Township officials.

“We were able to come to a solution that made sense for the patients, for the community and it’s a winning situation,” Jones said of the new location on the westbound side of Route 21 near the shuttered Hatfield’s Ferry Power Station. “It’s a little more remote and just as easily accessible. The patients have their privacy.”

The Whipkeys, who owned the property and building before selling it to DJ Realty Holdings, led the community’s fight against the drug treatment clinic last summer, claiming they did not want the center to be located at the industrial park just a few hundred yards from their home where they were raising two sons. They since converted their home along Hull Lane into a beauty salon operated by Heidi Whipkey.

“I’m just thankful it’s not going to be there and that they moved it away from everyone,” Heidi Whipkey said Monday while servicing customers at the salon where their living room was once located.

Cumberland Township Zoning Officer Ann Bargerstock said DJ Realty notified the township in October it was withdrawing its plans to build the Greene Medical Center 1 methadone clinic at Paisley. The design included a 5,084-square-foot building with counseling offices, treatment areas and waiting rooms.

No details about the new plans were available Monday and Monongahela Township officials could not be reached for comment. Jeremy Kelly, the Greene County planner, said the county does not need to review the plans because the building is not being expanded. He added Monongahela Township does not have a zoning ordinance, meaning there are no restrictions on where a clinic can be located.

Jones said before the clinic opens, they plan to invite the community and local officials to an open house so they can speak to mental health and drug treatment experts to alleviate any concerns about the facility. The closest methadone clinics are located near Washington, Uniontown and Perryopolis.

“It’s a win-win for the community, the patients and for the Whipkeys,” Jones said.