A methadone clinic in downtown Bernalillo seems less likely after planning and zoning commissioners declined to grant a permit for the project.
Mayor Jack Torres told the Sandoval Signpost the Town Council will only look at the matter if the applicant, Maximum Vitality, appeals the planning and zoning commission’s decision.
Commissioners rejected the application for a conditional use permit for a clinic at 866 Camino del Pueblo after dozens of residents weighed in on the matter.
Fabiola Munoz and Max Juarez of Maximum Vitality described their proposed project as “a medication-assisted treatment program.”
While the building would contain a methadone clinic, they said, it would include other functions, such as providing jobs and mental health services.
After their medications are dispensed every morning, according to the applicants, patients would leave the clinic and go into three hours of “intense programming” designed to help them maintain sobriety, then off to work.
Juarez and Munoz said they also planned to provide housing to the patients, who would have a 9 p.m. curfew. They said they would have armed security stationed on site to ensure patients don’t just wait for their medication near homes and businesses.
Commissioners seemed cool to the concept, questioning whether Bernalillo is the right place for the clinic and specifically doubting the appropriateness of the Camino del Pueblo location.
Juarez said the location makes sense because of the available transportation options, including rideshare service and the Downtown Bernalillo Rail Runner Express station.
“People in San Felipe, anywhere that we go north from here, they don’t have this type of care,” he said. “And I’m willing to provide complete wrap-around services to them.”
Public comments included concerns about the clinic’s impact on homelessness, increased crime and the police department’s ability to handle the influx of people in recovery.
One speaker said she lived close to a methadone clinic in Albuquerque, and that it became a nuisance, causing families and businesses to move out of the neighborhood.
Another said he expects patients not to leave the town if a methadone clinic opens there, overwhelming services, including a local church food program.
Resident Steve Amiot said he feels methadone clinics can help people, but the area near the county jail would be a more logical place to put one.
“They have a shuttle that moves around from there over to here,” Amiot said. Everybody, all the addicts in Bernalillo can go out there easily.”
Other speakers said the clinic would hinder efforts to preserve the character of the downtown area and possibly overwhelm the town’s emergency response network.
After the unanimous vote to deny the application, Maximum Vitality has 30 days to decide whether to appeal the decision to the Town Council. Company representatives could not be reached for comments on whether they intend to make such an appeal.
Torres did not attend the planning and zoning meeting, but said he appreciated the effort made by residents to speak their minds.