Attorney for clinic asks for reversal of notice
The attorney for a facility treating people for opiate addiction in Perry Township asked the Fayette County Zoning Hearing Board Wednesday to reverse the issuance of an enforcement notice against the site, claiming the site is not operating as a methadone clinic, but rather as a medical office. Attorney Joshua Farber said the intention is not to operate a substance abuse facility, but to operate a doctor’s office. Farber said Dr. Rudy Merrick is a pain-control specialist who prescribes the drug buprenorphine.
The facility is owned by LLS Realty LLC and is located at 3591 Pittsburgh Road. It operates under the name of SKS Associated.
Farber said only one aspect of the office is to treat opiate addiction.
“That is one of the things we do. It’s not the only thing we do,” Farber said.
Buprenorphine is used to treat people with opiate addictions. The Food and Drug Administration approved buprenorphine for use in 2002 to treat addiction to opiates such as heroin, morphine, oxycotin and fetanyl.
Buprenorphine works by alleviating withdrawal symptoms, according to the FDA’s Web site.
Stephen Shaner, who owns the clinic, testified that he owns all or part of five rehabilitative clinics and two physician practices. He said buprenorphine also is used for pain management.
Shaner said currently there are two patients at the site, but there were five or six patients at one time, all of which had opiate addictions.
He said the patients also are treated for physical health issues.
Shaner said the clinic was open from 2 to 4 p.m. three days a week.
He said Merrick is only permitted by law to prescribe buprenorphine to 100 people per year.
Sheryl Heid, assistant county solicitor, said the enforcement notice issued by the Fayette County Office of Planning, Zoning and Community Development technician was issued because the clinic was treating those with opiate addiction.
“The enforcement notice was for operating a drug treatment facility,” Heid said.
Shaner said they are not operating a methadone clinic, which requires special approval. He said a substance abuse facility must be licensed by the state Department of Health.
“We are not in violation of the ordinance. It is not a methadone clinic,” Farber said.
Farber previously wrote a letter stating that steps would be taken to operate the clinic more like a doctor’s office instead of a treatment clinic.
Shaner said in response to questions from some of the Perry Township residents in attendance that he would be willing to operate as more of a family practice, although he acknowledged that advertisements seeking clients have focused on recruiting people with opiate addictions.
Shaner said anyone using buprenorphrine wouldn’t be able to use opiates with the medication because they would get sick, but acknowledged that someone could arrive at the clinic under the influence of an opiate.
Although Shaner said using buprenorphrine doesn’t impair the ability to drive, attorney Jack Purcell showed Shaner information stating that people taking the drug shouldn’t drive until they know how it will affect their ability to operate a vehicle.
Shaner said the drug is known as “heroin light.”
He said people who take buprenorphine are higher-functioning patients that normally have jobs and family support.
Several of those in attendance were concerned about the additional traffic as well as people who may be under the influence of drugs in the area.
Shaner said drug testing is done for patients randomly and also can be done if a patient appears to be under the influence of drugs.
Perry Township Supervisor Janet Galla asked the zoning hearing board to consider the danger the 2,600 families in the township would be put in. She said they don’t want people in need of a fix or getting a fix to drive in the area.
Purcell, who attended the hearing on behalf of the Frazier School District, said he is aware of the other doctor’s offices that can prescribe the drug in the area and they “are not a fraud like this.”
Purcell referenced an injunction issued by Fayette County Judge Gerald R. Solomon prohibiting the site from “operating a substance abuse treatment facility, prescribing methadone or similar substances used to treat substance abuse, including substances containing buprenorphine hydrochloride” at the site.
Purcell said he believes the entire case is in Solomon’s order.
Zoning hearing board Chairman Jim Killinger said the board would give the judge’s order the weight it deserves in deciding if the enforcement order should be upheld.
Zoning board solicitor Gretchen Mundorff said the zoning board must make a decision on the enforcement notice, and not on Solomon’s ruling.
The board made a motion to rule within 45 days.
In 2005, the zoning board granted the facility a special exception to operate as a methadone clinic, causing township and school district officials to appeal to county court.
Officials argued that it would be unsafe for the methadone clinic to open on Rehoboth Church Road because it was close to the school, and because its location was just off an unsafe area of Route 51.
Judge Steve P. Leskinen ruled in February 2007 that the zoning hearing board should again review the matter based on the county’s updated zoning code, which was passed in November 2006.
In an unrelated case, the zoning hearing board approved a variance from setback and minimum lot size requirements for National City Bank to install an automated teller machine in the parking lot of the bank’s location in New Salem.
George Smalley Jr. of National City Bank said plans are to erect a small building on a concrete slab adjacent to the handicapped area for walk-up customers.
Smalley said the site can’t be used as a drive-up location and the bank would be willing to install concrete bollards to keep vehicles from getting too close to the ATM.
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