LAWRENCE: Drug, alcohol center back before board

By Lea Kahn, Staff Writer
   A controversial use variance application to locate a residential drug and alcohol detoxification center in an office park at 100 Federal City Road, which was denied by the Zoning Board of Adjustment in 2011, will be reconsidered by the board on Oct. 17.
   A use variance is needed because a residential drug and alcohol detoxification center — in which clients are weaned off alcohol and drugs before being sent to other facilities for counseling — is not a permitted use in the Professional Office zone. The zoning would permit an out-patient facility, however.
   The zoning board will hear the use variance application, submitted by the Simone Investment Group LLC and Sunrise Detoxification Center, at a special meeting next month. The application was sent back for another hearing after the applicant sued the zoning board and Lawrence Township in Mercer County state Superior Court and won.
   Last week, the zoning board also set ground rules for the public hearing, after a closed session to consider how to proceed with the public hearing. The board came out of its closed-door meeting and voted on several motions in public at its Sept. 19 meeting.
   The board agreed that at the Oct. 17 meeting there would be no more public comment or testimony, no written submissions, no amendments or conditions offered by the applicant and the record would not be re-opened for more testimony from the applicant.
   Mercer County Superior Court Judge Mary Jacobson ordered the zoning board to reconsider the application because she determined a residential drug and alcohol detoxification center is an inherently beneficial use. It is one of the “special reasons” that a zoning board may consider in determining whether to approve a use variance application.
   An inherently beneficial use is defined in the state Municipal Land Use Law as a use that is universally considered to be of value to the community because it “serves the public good and promotes the general welfare.” Examples are houses of worship, hospitals and schools.
   Sunrise Detoxification Center, which is based in Florida and also has a clinic in Stirling, sought to open a 38-bed facility in part of a vacant office building — one of three buildings that comprise the office park at 100 Federal City Road. The office park is owned by the Simone Investment Group LLC.
   The office park is located next to the Federal Hill single-family home subdivision and the Federal Point age-restricted subdivision. Many neighbors objected to the application and expressed concern that clients would leave the detoxification center in search of drugs or money for drugs.
   The zoning board denied the use variance application after eight months of public hearings. In casting their votes on the application, several board members said Sunrise Detoxification Center is a for-profit entity, while most uses that are considered to be inherently beneficial uses are nonprofits.
   In a related move, board member Edward Wiznitzer has agreed to recuse himself from sitting on the board when it hears the application next month. The issue of whether to allow Mr. Wiznitzer was headed to Superior Court after he said he would not step down, but he has reconsidered his stance. He declined to comment on his decision.
   There was concern among zoning board members whether Mr. Wiznitzer had a conflict of interest. Mr. Wiznitzer testified before the zoning board in favor of the application during the public hearings in 2011 — prior to his appointment as a zoning board member in 2012. He spoke as a private citizen.
   The Zoning Board of Adjustment consists of seven “regular” members plus two alternate members, who step in if a regular member is unable to vote. Two zoning board members have recused themselves because of conflicts of interest.
   In a letter to attorney George Dougherty, who is serving as the zoning board’s special attorney for the application, Mr. Wiznitzer wrote that in addition to the two board members who have recused themselves, another board member is currently undergoing long-term recovery from physical injuries and may possibly be absent. By his stepping down, he wrote, the board will be left with five voting members on the application.