The Voorhees Planning Board's lawyer accused an applicant that wants to open an opioid treatment program on Somerdale Road of "belligerent bullying" at a meeting Wednesday night.
Stuart Platt, lawyer for the Voorhees Planning Board, addresses the members Wednesday night saying he would tolerate no bullying of the board by applicant Affinity Healthcare as it seeks to open an opioid treatment program.
Board Solicitor Stuart Platt addressed the board before testimony began and said the applicant's lawyer, Samuel "Skip" Reale Jr. of the Helmer, Conley & Kasselman firm, and applicant Affinity Healthcare Group Voorhees LLC were trying to "bully and threaten their way into getting a land-use approval" from board members.
Reale in an email accused the board of "histrionics" and "blatantly engaging in discrimination" at its July 22 meeting, according to Platt. Reale said opioid treatment services are covered by the Americans with Disabilities Act and the board should not discriminate.
"I will not let anybody get bullied here or threatened with a lawsuit," Platt told the board before Affinity testimony began. He called the charge of discrimination a lie, false and unacceptable.
The Wednesday evening meeting was the second to examine Affinity's application for an opioid treatment program at 200 West Somerdale Road. The next session will be September 23; another in October may be needed before a decision can be made.
»MORE: Affinity's contentious first meeting with the Planning Board.
Platt told board members that Affinity's application seeks a change-of-use approval for the medical offices that currently exist at the site. He also said the authorized number of parking spaces at the site was 64, but an estimated 79 now are there.
Building owner Mid America of Moorestown and tenant Dr. Kenneth Brown received a zoning permit to use the site as a professional office providing behavioral health services on an outpatient basis in 2018. The February 2020 development review application from Mid America and program sponsor Ronald Martin seeks to use the facility as a "medical practice providing outpatient behavioral health opioid treatment services."
Martin testified that it's difficult to predict the number of patients who will visit the Somerdale Road office, but it could be from 200 to 275. Board members repeatedly questioned Affinity's representatives about how many of the office's clients would make daily visits for treatment, which can include the use of methadone.
The percentage visiting daily rather than weekly or monthly is hard to estimate, Martin said, but another Affinity facility comparable in size to the proposed one in Voorhees treated 185 to 200 patients a day. Experience at an Affinity program in Virginia showed the peak hour of operation was between 5 and 6 a.m., Martin testified.
Board members expressed concerns about parking availability and whether patients would be lining up for their methadone and other treatments at the office, which is in an office zone but is also less than a block from homes. It is near the corner of Burnt Mill Road.
Voorhees Commons, where Affinity Healthcare proposed treatment services for opioid addiction.
