Bristol Tennessee City Council gives nod to restricting location of substance-abuse centers

By: Roger Brown | Bristol Herald Courier
Published: October 06, 2010

BRISTOL, Tenn. --

BRISTOL, Tenn. – The Bristol City Council took a first step Tuesday toward legally restricting where future methadone clinics and substance-abuse treatment centers can locate in the city.

Council members gave initial approval to a proposed ordinance that would limit such facilities to industrial, nonresidential areas – and ban them from being within 1,000 feet of any day care center or school.

“We just can’t outlaw them,” Bristol Councilman David Shumaker said of state-licensed methadone and substance-abuse clinics. “But we’ve got out ahead on [where they can be.]”

The council is expected to officially make the proposal law during its Nov. 2 meeting.

Bristol has worked to quickly set new guidelines on drug-related sites after a recent controversy in Kingsport, where city officials scrambled to block a Dallas firm from putting a methadone clinic in a former local restaurant.

Under Bristol’s proposed ordinance, clinics and treatment sites also couldn’t be built without a special-use permit, which requires a lengthy, thorough review. It also would limit those facilities to treating patients on an outpatient, nonresidential basis.

Bristol City Manager Jeffrey Broughton has suggested that the new law would lead to clinics and treatment centers in “more appropriate” places such as city industrial parks, which have access to major roads.

In September, Bristol’s Planning Commission also backed the proposed ordinance, and recommended that the council approve it as law.

In other activity Tuesday:

Council members hailed Bristol’s Police Department for earning first-place recognition from the Tennessee Governor’s Highway Safety Office for the city’s traffic safety program, which stresses reducing accidents, educating residents and effectively enforcing traffic laws in trouble spots. As part of winning the award, the department received more than $3,000 in radar-enforcement equipment from the state.
Bristol Tennessee City Schools Director Gary Lilly told the council members that the district will begin interviewing candidates to replace longtime Holston View Elementary School Principal Tom Parker, who retired during the summer. Lilly said the district expects to interview 13 to 15 candidates, beginning this week.