Wilmington Detox Center Saga To Continue At Special Town Meeting

WILMINGTON, MA -- Wilmington Selectmen scheduled a special town meeting to consider a change of the town's zoning rules that would limit where drug treatment facilities can be located in town. The meeting will be Saturday, December 16 at 10:30 am and cost the town approximately $7,000. The kicker? Even if the proposed zoning law passes, it's unlikely to stand because of previous state rulings on similar zoning rule proposals in other towns.

The zoning rule is backed by Selectman Michael McCoy, who has been the most unspoken opponent on the five-member board of a proposal to build a drug treatment center at 362 Middlesex Avenue. McCoy organized residents to get signatures for a petition that forced the special town meeting. As proposed, the rule would limit drug treatment facilities to sections of town zoned for industrial uses.

At Monday night's meeting, as selectmen chose a date for the special town meeting, Town Manager Jeffrey Hull read an opinion from town counsel noting that the Massachusetts Attorney General's office would likely shoot down the law if it passed town meeting, as it had done to a similar zoning law passed by the town of Millbury. In that instance, the Attorney General said by singling out facilities that serve people seeking treatment for drug addiction, the zoning law violated discriminated against people with disabilities.

McCoy, who last week called Hull a "sneaky little weasel," accused Town Counsel of trying to make sure the rule he is backing is dead on arrival. McCoy said Town Counsel is biased against the rule and that Selectmen may need to hire a special town counsel to argue the town's case if the proposal is passed.

I may not have "esquire at the end of my name, but I understand how municipal government works," McCoy said. "When residents vote, [Town Counsel] may not like what you for vote for, but he has to fight for it on our behalf. It’s not for him to come and assassinate this thing."

Hull pointed out that town counsel was simply retained to give a legal opinion and not advocate for the town when the Attorney General's staff considers the legality of new bylaws approved by Wilmington town meeting.

"Town Counsel is noting the underlying principal that Millbury treated a protected class as separately and distinctive from other people seeking treatment...the proposal here is to carve out one category of individuals seeking medical treatment and [exclude] their facilities from those areas of town. That’s the problem that potentially arises.," Hull said.

McCoy's response? He proposed a second article for the special town meeting. This article changes the wording of the previous proposal to replace detox and drug treatment facilities with "hospitals and nursing homes." The rule would not affect existing nursing homes or hospitals, but all future facilities would have to be located in industrial areas. McCoy called his new proposal "a winner."

Minutes after McCoy proposed the change, it lost in a 3-2 vote by selectmen, who declined to add it to the special town meeting warrant. The majority argued they had been given the article to review just minutes before they voted on it. Selectmen Ed Loud Loud and McCoy voted in favor of the second article. McCoy said he would be back in front of Market Basket early Tuesday morning, collecting the 100 signatures he'd need to get his re-worded article on the special town meeting warrant.

What started out as opposition to a specific proposal for a 48-bed drug treatment facility has now expanded to an outright effort to all but ban any drug treatment facilities from locating Wilmington. While the location of the proposal that prompted McCoy to seek an overhaul of zoning laws was always a key flash point, other residents opposed the proposal because of the questionable track record of one of the project's key backers.

Even some of the opponents of the proposal conceded that, like many Massachusetts communities, Wilmington had been hard hit by the opioid epidemic. Many agreed that the town needed treatment facilities but wanted the town to better vet the operators of those facilities and consider the impact of potential locations.

"From the perspective of the police department, we need assistance. We need the help. It's heartbreaking. I sympathize with the folks that live in the neighborhood. I get it - I live in the neighborhood," Police Chief Michael Begonis said at Septmber meeting on the proposal. His comments echoed those of many people in Wilmington when it came to finding ways to address the opioid epidemic.

"I'm not here to tell you if this is the right location or the wrong location," Begonis continued. "My concern...is there are not a lot of people knocking on our door to help Wilmington specifically. I need beds because I've called at 5 o'clock on Friday night to try to get people help and they're your friends and neighbors."

More on this story:

• Wilmington Selectman: Town Manager Is 'A Sneaky Little Weasel' (11/1/2017)
• Wilmington Detox Center Opponents Force Town Meeting: Report(10/27/2017)
• Wilmington Official Who Would Decide Fate Of Detox Center Calls Drug Addicted 'Junkies'(10/16/2017)
• Wilmington Detox Facility Backers Considering Other Sites For Controversial Proposal (10/10/2017)
• Residents Start Petition Opposing Wilmington Detox Facility Proposal (10/5/2017)
• Who Are The Other Partners Behind The Wilmington Detox Center Proposal? (10/4/2017)
• Lead Backer Pulls Out Of Group That Wants To Build Wilmington Drug Addiction Treatment Facility(9/27/2017)
• More Questions, Concerns Raised About Wilmington Detox Facility Backer, Proposal (9/27/2017)

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Patch file photo.

Dave Copeland can be reached at dave.copeland@patch.com or by calling 617-433-7851. Follow him on Twitter (@CopeWrites) and Facebook (/copewrites).