MADISON — The decision whether to grant a license to a proposed opioid addiction treatment clinic that has stirred nearly two years of controversy was delayed Monday night, after a resident flagged its location being a possible problem.

The Select Board largely agreed that Acadia Healthcare’s plans for a clinic at 36 Business Park Drive met the requirements of a restrictive ordinance governing outpatient substance use treatment programs that voters enacted in 2024.

But the board, which was set to vote on Acadia’s license application Monday after two required public hearings in recent weeks, agreed it needs to consult with the town’s attorney about whether the proposed site falls within a designated “safe zone” — and whether such an area even exists.

Martin Berry raised the issue, saying that when measuring from property boundary to property boundary, the proposed site in the Madison Business Gateway industrial park is within 1,000 feet of Madison’s high school. The Madison resident claimed the high school is a designated safe zone and therefore Acadia’s clinic would not be allowed in that location.

That was new information to town officials, Select Board member John Martins said. The town’s code enforcement officer had previously measured the distance from building to building, and it was more than 1,000 feet, he said.

“That leaves us with an uncertainty as a board,” Martins said.

The town’s Outpatient Substance Use Disorder Treatment Programs Ordinance, which governs the license application process, does not list any requirement about being 1,000 feet away from a safe zone.

It states only that such a program, if located in the industrial park, must be “outside the high school safe zone designated by the Town of Madison in accordance with state law.”

Acadia’s attorney, Brian Rayback of the law firm Pierce Atwood in Portland, said another ordinance establishing safe zones in Madison does not list the high school. The ordinance, which says its objective is to protect children using athletic fields and parks from drug dealers, lists nine recreation areas.

The only reference to a 1,000-foot buffer is: “These safe zones are treated similar to schools, i.e., drug dealing within 1,000 feet of these zones subjects the dealer to an enhanced penalty.”

Rayback said whether the school is a safe zone and whether any buffer should be measured between property boundaries or between buildings are both moot points because they do not apply to Acadia’s proposed clinic.

“We’re not talking about drug dealers here,” Rayback said. “We’re talking about a licensed medical facility that provides medical treatment in compliance with state and federal law.”

Rayback, however, said he had no problem with the Select Board consulting with legal counsel before making its decision.

The next board meeting is March 9. Town Manager Denise Ducharme said she would put the vote on a meeting agenda after town officials receive the legal opinion.

Acadia, a for-profit behavioral health care provider with headquarters in Franklin, Tennessee, and 262 facilities across 39 states, has been seeking to open a clinic in Madison for nearly two years.

The company runs six clinics in Maine — in Bangor, Calais, Presque Isle, Rumford, South Portland and Waterville — that are similar to what it plans to open in Madison.

Acadia executives wrote in application materials submitted in August that the planned clinic is aimed at serving patients with opioid use disorder, “with the goal of supporting long-term recovery, personal stability and reintegration into daily life.”

Services offered at the clinic would largely focus on medication-assisted treatment. 

A company representative, Adrienne Sass, said at a previous meeting that treatment would include administering methadone and Suboxone, a combination medication containing buprenorphine and naloxone. But Sass said earlier this month the clinic is expected to provide only methadone, both on-site and in take-home doses.

The drugs are controlled substances used widely to treat opioid addiction in adults. Methadone is typically administered in a daily dose.

Other services for those receiving treatment would include medical evaluations and monitoring, individual and group counseling, and education programs, according to the application.

If approved, Acadia would likely open in Madison in 2027, although it has no target date, a corporate spokesperson said.

Acadia shifted its sights to the business park after its initial plans announced in early 2024 to open the clinic at the former Taylor’s Drug Store at 2 Old Point Ave. were met with concern from some residents and town officials. 

More than 200 residents signed a petition asking Acadia to rethink the downtown location, concerned about the impacts of it being at a major intersection near schools and businesses.

Voters ultimately approved an ordinance at a special town meeting in October 2024 that, among other requirements, restricts possible locations of a program like Acadia’s to a part of the business park and a section of U.S. Route 201. At the time, town officials were aware Acadia was considering the business park site, formerly an animal hospital.