Wayne sets zone limits on detox centers, drug rehabs

By: Philip DeVencentis
NorthJersey.com
USA Today Network - New Jersey

WAYNE - The Township Council adopted an ordinance to regulate the location of detox centers, drug rehabs and similar types of facilities.
..... The measure, passed Wednesday, [09/06/2023] amends multiple sections of the zoning code, marking a clear distinction between those facilities and hospitals and medical offices. If further differentiates inpatient centers, which provide lodging and meals, from outpatient centers, which do not.
..... Inpatient facilities are allowed only under specific conditions and only in the government use zone. Outpatient facilities are permitted in most commercial zones.
..... The catalyst for the new ordnance, said Township Planner Christopher Kok, was a proposed mental health facility and urgent care center that the Zoning Board of Adjustment rejected in March 2021.
..... The facility was treated as if it were a hospital for the purpose of the zoning board's review, because at the time, Kok said, there was no other definition in the zoning code that was suitable.
..... Twenty-four beds in the 70-bed facility were going to be for a detox unit.
..... But it was the location of the would-be complex, at 1777 Hamburg Turnpike, that irked neighbors on Ridgeview Terrace and on Sheffieold Road. The 3.5-acre property is in a residential zone.
..... The developer sued the zoning board to reverse the outcome of the case, but a judge sitting in state Superior Court in Paterson ruled in April [2023] that the right decision was made.
..... "There is no proof that the Board's decisions was based on anything other than zoning and land use considerations," the judge wrote in an 18-page opinion.
..... A Michael Rubin, an attorney for the developer, said Thursday [09/07/2023] that his client did not plan to appeal the ruling. He said a new application for the site, this time for a medical office, would be submitted in the near term.

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