Title
A RESOLUTION CONCERNING ZONING ORDINANCE - USE REGULATIONS - PRESERVING ACCESS TO OPIOID TREATMENT SERVICES for the purpose of approving, with the force and effect of law, a new principal use type - opioid treatment centers; setting conditions for approving development applications for opioid treatment centers; identifying the zones in which such centers are permitted by right; setting forth off-street parking requirements for such treatment centers.
Background
This resolution amends Subtitle 27 of the Prince George’s County Code on an emergency basis by adding a new principal use type - Opioid Treatment Center. This resolution seeks to address an urgent need for access to opioid treatment services in Prince George’s County.
The County continues to face the effects of a nationwide opioid crisis, which has been determined to be a public health emergency by the federal Department of Health & Human Services. Prince George’s County recently ranked third among counties in Maryland for fatal opioid overdoes, and a statewide assessment of treatment programs found that programs available in the County meet only a fraction of the need. The County has only one licensed and certified opioid treatment facility (per the Maryland Department of Health) and the County Health Department announced it will no longer provide Medication Assisted Treatment Services after March 2025.
To address the urgent need for treatment service capacity in the County, this emergency resolution approves a new use type on a temporary basis and permits this new use type by right in certain nonresidential zones. Development applications for this new use type must demonstrate that certain conditions have been met, but unlike the existing “Methadone Treatment Centers” use type, these development applications will not be subject to special exception review. A companion bill will be introduced to permanently codify these changes.