Vineland council adopts definition changes but continues public hearing on zoning limits for substance‑use services

Vineland City Council on Feb. 11 adopted an amendment to the city's zoning definitions but deferred a companion zoning change that would restrict where substance abuse counseling and mental‑health counseling can locate.

City planner Kathleen (Kathy) Hicks told the council the planning department and the planning board recommended removing substance‑abuse counseling and treatment from B1 and B2 neighborhood business zones and adding two new land‑use categories ' mental‑health counseling/treatment and "service office" ' to place those uses instead in B3, B4, industrial and Institutional‑1 zones. The planning board adopted resolution 6667 supporting the changes, Hicks said.

The changes on the table prompted more than two hours of public comment. Residents and local organizations, led by the Cumberland Cape Atlantic YMCA and nearby homeowners, urged the council to reject or modify the zoning changes because of concerns about proximity to children, parks and the YMCA and possible discarded syringes. Representatives of the South Jersey AIDS Alliance and other harm‑reduction advocates said their programs reduce HIV and overdose risk and urged the council not to remove access to services in Vineland.

Hicks said the goal of the amendments was to "insulate and refine the uses permitted in B2, which is neighborhood business," and to create categories that the current ordinance did not address. Hicks also told the council she had…