The ICR plans to open its new facility within the next 3 to 4 months. (Steve Burns, WTIU/WFIU News)
A new drug treatment facility is set to open in Bloomington after receiving zoning approval from the city.
Thursday night, the Board of Zoning Appeals voted to approve a request from the Indiana Center for Recovery to open a detox treatment facility at 1000 W. First Street.
The property is adjacent to two other ICR buildings, which offer long-term treatment and transitional housing for people with alcohol and opioid addiction.
Approving The New Facility
The center plans to operate a 24-hour medical detox facility for patients dealing with substance abuse withdrawal symptoms.
The property is currently vacant and once functioned as a nephrology clinic.
Attorney for the Indiana Center for Recovery Cheyenne Riker says the center plans to update the space to accommodate up to 20 patients. Riker says the center went before the BZA to receive a special approval to operate as a rehabilitation clinic.
"The manner in which this property will be used will be an in-patient facility," he says. "So it clearly falls under the definition of a rehabilitation clinic and that is why we applied for a conditional use with the BZA on this new facility."
Previous Zoning Controversy
The center previously faced controversy over the zoning classification of it's two adjacent buildings: one is a medical clinic on 909 W. First Street and the other is patient housing at 1004 W. First Street.
The ICR was cited with a notice of violation in June for operating as a rehabilitation clinic without the proper conditional use approval from the city.
Although the ICR argued they do not operate as rehabilitation clinics at either facility, the BZA denied their request to appeal the violations at a hearing in August.
The ICR is challenging the county’s decision not to hear its appeal to the violations in Monroe County Circuit Court. Riker says it doesn’t align with the Unified Development Ordinance.
“We didn’t think that the BZA’s decision was accurate under the UDO and we also thought that the BZA’s decision was in violation of the Fair Housing Act and the Federal Americans with Disabilities Act,” he says.
The court has issued a stay in the city’s enforcement of the BZA decision while the case is in progress.
The ICR plans to open its new facility within the next three to four months.
