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September 6, 2022

Hartford methadone clinic seeks to build nicer quarters

Contributed A rendering of a proposed new substance abuse treatment clinic at 35-39 Lafayette St, 152-154 Oak St., 156-158 Oak St. and 162-164 Oak St. in Hartford.
By Michael Puffer

A Manchester-based nonprofit operating a string of drug treatment centers in Connecticut aims to build a roughly 10,000-square-foot treatment facility on parking lots by Hartford Superior Court.

The Root Center’s new facility — to be built on lots sandwiched between Lafayette Street and Oak Street — would replace a roughly 6,500-square-foot clinic at 345 Main St. The current location is by a bus stop in a commercial area near the edge of downtown Hartford.

The new facility would offer a better layout and more space for expanded treatment options, according to Steven Zuckerman, president and CEO of The Hartford Dispensary, which operates under the name of The Root Center. The new location will have 42 parking spaces, compared to the 14 at the current Main Street site, Zuckerman said.

“The site on Main Street is not conducive to treating the burgeoning opioid epidemic,” Zuckerman said. “That site cannot expand its capacity. We need more space, particularly more parking.”

The Main Street clinic is one of two operated by the Root Center in Hartford. There are no plans to move the second facility at 16-18 Weston St.

The planned building site is owned by Courthouse Lenders LLC. Its principals are Alan Lazowski, of Hartford; Michael Kuziak, of Vero Beach, Florida; and Jeffrey Karp, of Wayland, Massachusetts, according to state business records.

Courthouse Lenders submitted a letter in support of the application.

Hartford zoning currently does not allow for a methadone clinic anywhere in the city, but the two existing clinics are grandfathered.

The Root Center is seeking a zone text amendment before Hartford’s Planning and Zoning Commission that would allow drug treatment clinics by special permit in MX-1 zones. The commission is set to take up the request at its Sept. 13 meeting.

In an application submitted for the Root Center, attorney Andrea L. Gomes of Hinckley Allen informs the commission that the current prohibitive zoning is a breach of the Americans with Disabilities Act. This could be resolved with the change in the MX-1 zoning, Gomes wrote.

The MX-1 district is described in city zoning as “a lower intensity district intended to be compatible with adjacent historic neighborhoods. This district includes office, institutional and/or residential uses in a mix of lower scaled General, Apartment, Row, House A and House B Building types.”

Zuckerman said The Root Center has been seeking a better location since prior to his hire six years ago.

The current Main Street site serves about 650 patients daily, with queues of patients often extending to the bus stop. Many times, patients are diverted to the Weston Street location because of backups at the Main Street site, Zuckerman said.

The new location will be modeled after a modern clinic center recently built at 542 Main St. in New Britain, Zuckerman said. He could not estimate costs to build the proposed replacement building in Hartford.

The Hartford Dispensary was established in 1871 as an outpatient medical-dental clinic, which changed its focus to substance and mental health services in 1971. It currently serves about 6,000 patients daily out of 10 clinics in Hartford, Willimantic, Norwich, Manchester, Middletown, Torrington, Bristol and New Britain, according to Zuckerman.

“We provide life-saving treatment every day,” Zuckerman said. 

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