Residents of West St. Augustine are voicing concerns over a proposed methadone clinic in what was once a Family Dollar on West King Street.
Community members raised safety fears over plans for the New Season treatment facility in a vacant commercial building at 840 W. King Street.
Children routinely walk in the surrounding area due to nearby schools, a community center, and the Boys & Girls Club, locals told The Citizen.
One West St. Augustine resident, Sandra Garden, 59, wrote in a letter to neighbors that the community should “rise up” in opposition by attending a Jan. 15 public hearing on the issue.
The missive argues that the facility would hamper the neighborhood’s longstanding improvement efforts.
Another resident, Beatrice Williams, 67, also expressed concerns.
“I’m not against people getting help, but it does not need to be right in the middle of a neighborhood,” said told The Citizen. “Children and families walk up and down this street every day.”
The director of the local Boys & Girls Club, Sierra Winson, 40, told The Citizen that multiple parents have expressed safety concerns to her.
If the clinic does open, Winson said, she will discourage parents from allowing their kids to walk in its proximity.
“This day and age is a little crazy already, but for that to be so close is a huge concern, not just for the kids and the parents, but anyone that comes walking from downtown,” she said.
Williams noted the presence of a school bus stop directly in front of the proposed location.
Residents of West St. Augustine are also worried about potential impacts on the area’s seniors.
Garden said elderly locals have been harassed and even attacked by homeless people living near the vacant West King building.
“It’s not zoned for this,” she said. “It won’t benefit the community whatsoever.”
The applicants contend that the clinic would constitute a lawful commercial use of the property and note that they already operate a treatment center in a comparable area of St. Johns County.
But Freeman Walker Sr., a pastor at West St. Augustine’s Dawson Chapel, said the neighborhood needs a more conventional commercial presence in the space.
Walker believes that the community would better benefit from a new grocery store or a gas station.
A sign for the Jan. 15. meeting on the matter in the County Auditorium at 500 San Sebastian View now sits in front of the building.
The West Augustine CRA, a local group, will also host a separate community gathering on Monday, Jan. 12, at 7 p.m. at the Solomon Calhoun Center.
The St. Johns Citizen has requested a comment from Boca Raton-based New Season, the drug treatment provider applying to open the clinic.
