“The idea of something as big as a Wal-Mart filled with heroin addicts,” Gabriela Campos-Matteson said, “just doesn’t appeal to me.”
Campos-Matteson (pictured), director of the Grand Avenue Village Association (GAVA), was speaking about a new facility proposed for Fair Haven, in her words, a “mega-methadone clinic.” The drug treatment center, proposed for 24 and 36 River St., would renovate an existing warehouse to create a three-story, 71,000 square-foot clinic, with 75 parking spaces.
Campos-Matteson is one of several Fair Haven leaders, including two local alders, who are coming out against the proposed clinic. They said that it’s not the right business to occupy a piece of prime waterfront Fair Haven property. They’re worried about drug-related crime and say that Fair Haven should not be used as “dumping ground.”
The new clinic is being proposed by the APT Foundation, a New Haven substance abuse non-profit. APT’s plan would consolidate services it now offers at other New Haven locations into one River Street operation.
The proposed facility will require the approval of Board of Zoning appeals. Campos-Matteson and others are organizing a big turnout of opposition at the next meeting of the BZA, on Tuesday April 14.
Foundation Proposes
The clinic proposal calls for the demolition and renovation of two buildings at the corner Ferry and River streets in Fair Haven. The building at 24 River (at left in picture), currently owned by SeaBoard Oil, would be torn down to make room for parking and a green space. The warehouse building next door — at 36 River — would be renovated to create the clinic, with a second floor and “mezzanine” added inside and cosmetic improvements made to the outside.
Specifically, the proposal asks for a zoning variance to “allow health center providing outpatient clinics, primary health care, behavioral medicine services, drug treatment and vocational training.”
According to the proposal before the BZA, the new facility would consolidate many of the services offered by the APT Foundation at its other New Haven locations. The clinic would serve outpatient clients only. “Medication-assisted” clients receiving methadone and subnoxone would be “on premises an average of 15 minutes or less,” with no waiting lines or waiting areas outside.
The clinic would be open 6:30 a.m. to 7:00 p.m. Monday through Friday and 7 a.m. to noon on Saturdays and Sundays. There would be a maximum of 115 employees at the facility at any one point, including four doctors.
The APT foundation did not respond to repeated calls for comment.
Business Opposes
“It’s just not right from any perspective,” said Campos-Matteson.
Standing in front of a satellite image of Fair Haven in her Blatchley Avenue office last week, Campos-Matteson had several reasons why she’s opposed to such a large drug treatment clinic opening in Fair Haven.
She argued that a large facility that draws on patients from a large area is not the best way to treat people dealing with substance abuse. She said that smaller “community-based” centers offer more effective treatment than a “big-box-store-style center.”
“I disagree with it from a client perspective,” Campos-Matteson said. “Second, from a business perspective… River Street is supposed to be creating jobs.”
Campos-Matteson speculated that the new clinic, since it will consolidate several existing facilities that are already staffed, will not bring any new jobs to Fair Haven. Instead, Campos-Matteson predicted, the clinic will bring increased commuting traffic, as employees and clients travel to the clinic from nearby towns.
“It’s not just traffic from all the employees, but from all the heroin addicts as well,” Campos-Matteson said. She objected to the notion of “a lot of addicts being dumped into the district.”
Campos-Matteson said the clinic might bring some business to Grand Avenue restaurants and stores, but predicted it would also lead to a rise in crime and loitering.
“We’re going to see an increase in certain crimes related to addictions,” Campos-Matteson said.
“Why should we be the dumping ground?” she asked. She said that the facility amounts to “theft,” perpetrated by people “commuting in from the suburbs and using New Haven.”
“No way. No way,” Fair Haven developer Angelo Reyes (pictured) said of the clinic proposal. “We worked too hard for our neighborhood not to be a dumping ground any longer.”
Reyes has invested in the revitalization of Grand Avenue. He is opposed to the proposed drug treatment facility, with one exception. “I will support it if City Hall supports a clinic right next door to them.”
Reyes expressed concern about Fair Haven’s image. He said that he has been trying to help Fair Haven become a Latin-flavored “village” and that a “Super Wal-Mart Methadone Clinic” runs counter to his efforts.
“And how do we monitor child molesters who are addicts?” Reyes asked. He predicted an increase in crime if the clinic opens.
The clinic should be taken to the outskirts of town, Reyes said.
“You’re going to have people wandering around like zombies in Fair Haven,” said George Carranzo, owner of the Grand Apizza on Grand Avenue. He said that even though a drug treatment clinic might mean an increase in business for him, “it’s not worth it.”
“I’m worried about the name of Fair Haven,” Carranzo said, taking a break from cleaning up his parking lot last week. He said that he’s worried that a methadone clinic would lower property values in the area.
Alders Oppose
The proposed River Street location of the clinic is in Ward 16 near the border of Ward 14, represented by Alders Migdalia Castro and Erin Sturgis-Pascale respectively. Both alderwomen said that they oppose the facility.
Castro said that a drug clinic is not an appropriate use of the property (pictured), which she said should be occupied by light industrial enterprises that could provide employment for local residents. She said that she has spoken to a dozen of her constituents, all of whom are opposed to a new methadone clinic.
“It’s a really prickly issue,” said Alderwoman Sturgis-Pascale. “We do in fact need more addiction services everywhere…. Ultimately I would rather it go somewhere else.”
“Why would you want to bring drug addicts in to where drugs are being sold?” she asked. The alderwoman said that Fair Haven was already fighting against drugs and violence in its neighborhoods. “It just isn’t helpful.”
Sturgis-Pascale reframed the issue within a larger context created by two factors: a failed war on drugs and a national tendency to place all “societal burdens on our cities.” The proposal for an urban drug treatment clinic serving suburban towns, she explained, is the result of these two forces.
The alderwoman said that she would rather see the waterfront property occupied by a water-dependent business that would bring jobs to the area. She also opposed a non-profit use of the land, which would not bring any tax revenue to the city.
Both Castro and Sturgis-Pascale said that they would be informing their constituents about the April 14 BZA meeting, to ensure that Fair Haven residents come out to voice their opinion on the proposal.
Holy crap that would scare any community!