Amendments will require future drug treatment centers to obtain a conditional use permit.
by Adele Uphaus
MANAGING EDITOR AND CORRESPONDENT
The Stafford Board of Supervisors on Tuesday unanimously approved amendments to its zoning ordinance that will require future treatment centers for people with substance abuse, mental illness and developmental disabilities to go through the process of obtaining a conditional use permit.
The amendments expand the definition of “hospital” to include any facility that provides a range of services as outlined in Virginia Code, including “Planned individualized interventions intended to reduce or ameliorate mental illness, developmental disabilities, or substance abuse through care, treatment, training, habilitation, or other supports that are delivered by a provider to persons with mental illness, developmental disabilities, or substance abuse.”
Hospital use is one of three medical-related uses in the county’s zoning ordinance, and it is only permitted in seven zoning districts and only by conditional use permit, which requires public hearings before the Planning Commission and the Board of Supervisors, and Supervisor approval.
The other two uses—medical/dental office and medical/dental clinic—are permitted by-right, meaning they do not require a conditional use permit, in 10 zoning districts.
Last year, residents of Deacon Road in south Stafford learned that a clinic that would offer medication-assisted treatment for opioid use disorder would be opening in the Woodlawn Shopping Center in their neighborhood.
Clinic use is permitted by-right in that zoning district and the proposal by Concerted Care Group only required approval by the county’s director of planning and zoning.
The zoning director—who has since resigned—was supposed to send out notification letters to adjacent property owners but did not.
Neighbors of the Woodlawn Shopping Center, concerned about safety threats posed by the clinic both to its patients and the community, formed a grassroots organization, 22405 Neighborhood Watch, that is still working to prevent the clinic from opening through litigation. It also advocates for the county to change its zoning to prevent future clinics from being able to open by-right.
Kristin Halstead, a member of 22405 Neighborhood Watch, was the only member of the public to speak during a hearing on the proposed hospital definition.
“This will prevent future clinics from popping up anywhere a by-right use allows them to, and from having the same issue that happened to my residential area to happen somewhere else,” she said. “This new ordinance will allow our county to have control over where these treatment centers go in and make sure they have the proper community planning to address all citizen concerns and safety matters.”
