Thank you to all 450 concerned Guilford residents who came to the Guilford Community Center on Feb. 27 and signed the “adjourned referendum petitions” concerning the methadone clinic coming to Guilford.

We believe these “adjourned referendum petitions,” which required a minimum of 200 signatures, obligate the Guilford Board of Selectmen (BOS) to schedule a referendum or vote at the polls on the petition questions. Specifically, the first “adjourned referendum petition” calls for amending the Guilford zoning ordinances to say that an addiction (methadone) clinic can be located no closer than 500 feet from the closest house and no closer than 1,000 feet from any school or daycare facility.

We believe the second “adjourned referendum petition” requires all our Guilford Town Officials to immediately enter into discussions with the APT Foundation to relocate the methadone clinic to a more appropriate location. These petitions were necessary because the BOS, on the advice of the town’s attorney, decided not to consider an earlier petition signed by 68 residents to hold a Special Town Meeting to vote on suspending renovations at the Play Café (the future site of the methadone clinic) until public hearings, impact studies, and background checks regarding the methadone clinic could be held and evaluated, and until the zoning ordinances could be amended to clarify “medical use,” and establish minimum distances that an addiction clinic could be located from schools and daycare facilities.

These petitions were submitted to the Town Clerk on Feb. 29. First Selectman Matt Hoey has asked the Guilford Town Counsel to render a legal opinion on these petitions.

Please attend the next BOS meeting on March 18 to express your opinion regarding these petitions.

Dave Holman

Guilford