JEFF METHADONE CLINIC TO STAY PUT

Plan For New Site Spurred Opposition

A methadone clinic in Jeffersonville that draws customers from across
Southern Indiana and Kentucky has decided not to try to move to a
larger facility nearby -- at least for now.

CRC Health Group, which runs the clinic on 10th Street, has asked
city officials to withdraw a zoning request that would have allowed
it to move to the Gateway shopping plaza about a mile away.

"I'm just very pleased," said Wendy Sheppard, a resident of Grubbs
Avenue who fought the clinic's expansion. "People can make a
difference." Sheppard helped gather more than 500 signatures from
residents and businesses for a petition opposing the move. She
credited the petition, along with neighborhood meetings and news
coverage, for the company's decision. The zoning request was
presented to the city's Board of Zoning Appeals for its Oct. 25
meeting. But California-based CRC Health asked the city to postpone
that request until next Tuesday Les Merkley, the Jeffersonville city
attorney, said the company now is asking that the request be
withdrawn altogether.

The for-profit clinic -- called the Southern Indiana Treatment Center
- -- served more than 1,800 patients from Kentucky and Indiana last
year, making it one of the nation's busiest such facilities. It
dispenses methadone, a synthetic opiate, to recovering drug addicts.
Doses are $12 a day, and the cost generally is not reimbursed by insurance.

Officials with CRC Health could not be reached for comment yesterday.
But Merkley said the company still is looking for a piece of land in
Jeffersonville where it could expand its operations. Nearly
two-thirds of the clinic's patients live in Kentucky, where
restrictions on methadone are far tighter than in Indiana.

Merkley said an expanded clinic in Jeffersonville probably would draw
less opposition if it were located farther from a residential
neighborhood. It now is based in a one-story office at 1713 E. 10th
St. Ed Zastawny, the city councilman whose district includes the
Gateway shopping center, said he was "very happy" to hear that the
clinic is looking elsewhere for a new building. Residents expressed
concerns about declining property values, traffic, crime and
loitering if the clinic were located near their homes.

"Rightly or wrongly, they're afraid of a lot of the folks (who) would
be stopping by and utilizing the clinic," he said.

Zastawny suggested the clinic's owners look at one of the city's
industrial parks for a new facility.

The Board of Zoning Appeals meeting Tuesday will begin at the
conclusion of the 6 p.m. meeting of the city's Plan Commission.
Sheppard said she and a handful of others still plan to attend just
to make sure the variance request is withdrawn.

Other items on the agenda: A patio home development with 20
condominiums is being proposed in the 3200 block of Charlestown Pike.
Called Alannah Gardens, it would be developed by Oliver Construction.

A 56-lot subdivision called Kelly Station needs the commission's
approval before it can be built on Woodland Road, east of Logan Lane.
Plans were submitted by Jones-Fust Inc.

The Utica Township Fire District wants the city to approve a zoning
change at 3718 Utica-Sellersburg Road for a new fire station. It
would replace the district's existing station on New Chapel Road.