HOUSE DOCKET, NO. 3520        FILED ON: 1/20/2017

HOUSE  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  No. 3214

 

The Commonwealth of Massachusetts

_________________

PRESENTED BY:

Paul K. Frost and Michael O. Moore

_________________

To the Honorable Senate and House of Representatives of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts in General
Court assembled:

The undersigned legislators and/or citizens respectfully petition for the adoption of the accompanying bill:

An Act relative to methadone clinic zoning.

_______________

PETITION OF:

 

Name:

District/Address:

Date Added:

Paul K. Frost

7th Worcester

1/20/2017

Michael O. Moore

Second Worcester

1/20/2017

Joseph D. McKenna

18th Worcester

11/7/2017

Todd M. Smola

1st Hampden

11/7/2017

Timothy R. Whelan

1st Barnstable

11/7/2017

Shawn Dooley

9th Norfolk

11/7/2017

Ryan C. Fattman

Worcester and Norfolk

11/7/2017

Kate D. Campanale

17th Worcester

11/7/2017

Paul McMurtry

11th Norfolk

11/7/2017

Donald R. Berthiaume, Jr.

5th Worcester

11/7/2017


HOUSE DOCKET, NO. 3520        FILED ON: 1/20/2017

HOUSE  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  No. 3214

By Representative Frost of Auburn and Senator Moore, a joint petition (accompanied by bill, House, No. 3214) of Paul K. Frost, Michael O. Moore and others relative to methadone clinic zoning.  Municipalities and Regional Government.

 

The Commonwealth of Massachusetts

 

_______________

In the One Hundred and Ninetieth General Court
(2017-2018)

_______________

 

An Act relative to methadone clinic zoning.

 

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General Court assembled, and by the authority of the same, as follows:
 

SECTION 1. Chapter 40A of the General Laws, as appearing in the 2014 Official Edition, is hereby amended by adding, after Section 3, the following new section:-

Section 3 ½. (a) Notwithstanding the provisions of Section 3 of Chapter 40A, or any general or special law to the contrary, municipalities may adopt zoning ordinances, pursuant to Section 5 of Chapter 40A, for the purpose of regulating the location of proposed methadone clinics.

(b) Should no local requirements exist, a methadone clinic, by default, shall not be sited within a radius of five hundred feet of a school, daycare center, or any facility in which children commonly congregate. The five hundred foot distance under this section shall be measured in a straight line from the nearest point of the facility in question to the nearest point of the proposed methadone clinic.

(c) For the purposes of this section, “facility in which children commonly congregate” shall be defined as facilities in which children are gathered for a particular purpose in a structured and scheduled manner or which are dedicated to the use of children, including playgrounds, youth services programs, day care centers, youth sports facilities, dance schools, and gymnastic schools and private homes housing family day care centers. It shall not include other facilities where children congregate in an unstructured, unscheduled manner.

 

(d) Methadone clinics shall not be able to employ the provisions of Section 3 of Chapter 40A in order to bypass local zoning requirements.

SECTION 2. This act shall take effect 90 days after passage.