Judge Backs Peekskill Planners in Meth Clinic Lawsuit
A state Supreme Court justice has backed the Peekskill Planning Commission’s approval last year of a controversial methadone clinic off Highland Avenue.
Judge Lester Adler last week dismissed the Common Council’s Article 78 proceeding against the Planning Commission that the drug treatment facility was not permitted in the M-2 Zoning District, ruling the commission acted properly in its unanimous blessing of the project.
The Planning Commission actually approved the application of the Renaissance Project twice to assume control over a clinic for up to 275 patients on Corporate Drive that has been run for more than 20 years by HudsonValleyHospitalCenter in a trailer behind the hospital. The commission was forced to rescind its June 2012 approval after city officials failed to legally notify neighboring Cortlandt and some city residents.
The commission ignored requests from the Common Council and more than 1,000 petitioners to deny the clinic. After it was sued by the Common Council, Dwight Douglas, a member since 2005 and chairman since 2010, resigned from the board, stating he was leaving “in response to the Council’s ill-advised and misdirected action in authoring the filing of the Article 78.”
When the lawsuit was filed, Mayor Mary Foster said it was “not an easy step to take,” adding “we generally respect the decisions of the Planning Commission but sometimes we just don’t end up in the same place.”
The Common Council was represented by the law firm of Wilson, Elser, Moskowitz, Edelman & Dicker. Following Adler’s ruling, city officials stated they were in the process of exploring “additional options.”
“The city remains surprised that Hudson Valley Hospital, with its shiny new buildings, would refuse to find the space for the methadone clinic, and would toss its most vulnerable patients into an industrial area,” a spokesman for the city said.
Hospital officials have said they have been looking for several years for someone else to run the methadone clinic since it has not been a profitable operation.
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