JUDGE RULES METHADONE CLINIC OK IN RIO GRANDE

In March 2000, Township Zoning Officer Carol Nicoletta Found The Methadone
Clinic Was A Permitted Use At Its Rio Grande Location. In August 2000, The
Zoning Board Agreed With Nicoletta's Decision.

MIDDLE TOWNSHIP - A doctor's office that dispenses methadone to treat drug
addictions is still a doctor's office, Superior Court Judge John Callinan
has ruled.

In his written opinion, Callinan said that a township ordinance regulating
the location of "professional offices such as doctors ... or similar
professional uses" in RGB zoning districts makes no distinction as to the
type of practice a physician may operate from a doctor's office.

Callinan found the township's zoning officer and Zoning Board were correct
when they permitted a methadone clinic to open its doors last year in a
professional office building known as Oslo Plaza at Oslo Drive and Route 47
South in Rio Grande.

Dr. James Walsh, a podiatrist whose office is adjacent to the methadone
clinic, had challenged the location of the clinic operated by Dr. James
Manlandro.

Walsh's attorney, Michael Fusco, argued that when the office became both a
doctor's office and a methadone clinic, it "exceeded and intensified" the
permitted uses in the RGB zoning district.

Fusco called the matter "a very simple zoning issue."

In his decision, Callinan said the case was about more than zoning.

"It is not the physician that is the focus of plaintiff's concern, in this
court's opinion, but the patients ... specifically, those patients with
drug addiction problems. Dr. Manlandro treats persons whom a great majority
of doctors do not see in their every day practice and may not desire to treat."

He went on to say the office hours the clinic maintains are not unusual and
that Manlandro's case load "is arguably not one that leads to high traffic."

Callinan pointed out that, even though Manlandro has been willing to
relocate his clinic, efforts to place the clinic in another location have
so far been unsuccessful.

"That being said, the office is located in a zone which permits doctor's
offices," Callinan said, adding that Manlandro's ability to treat persons
with narcotics addictions and to dispense methadone for that treatment does
not change the fact that it is a doctor's office.

Fusco could not be reached prior to press time to comment on the judge's ruling.