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Residents and council raise concerns about local methadone clinic; city says site is being monitored
Summary
Councilmembers and residents reported business impacts and safety concerns tied to a methadone clinic near commercial properties. City staff said the clinic has been inspected weekly and contractors are keeping the site clean; council members said evidence needed to pursue conditional-use actions would require more documentation.
Business owners and councilmembers told the Biloxi City Council on March 17 that a methadone clinic near commercial properties has created ongoing problems for nearby merchants and residents.
Councilmember Newman asked about the clinic’s compliance and whether behaviors near the site could support revoking a conditional-use permit. City staff replied the city checks the site weekly and said the company the clinic hired was keeping the property, including the dumpster area, clean.
"The methadone clinic, we're checking it every week, and they're following through with what they promised," a city staff member reported to the council. "The company they hired is keeping the property clean, around the dumpster and everywhere else. It's all good right now." The staff member said further enforcement would depend on documented code violations.
During council reports and public comment, several speakers said businesses near the clinic had experienced repeated incidents. One councilmember raised an additional concern that drugs obtained at clinics are sometimes re-sold or combined with fentanyl after distribution, saying, "the latest thing with methadone is they lacing it with fentanyl. So that's the problem you have in here with the methadone…" That councilmember urged careful attention to the site.
City staff told the council that turning complaints into a code-enforcement or conditional-use case would require more specific, documentable incidents and that staff would follow up after the meeting to examine whether code violations could be cited.
No formal action to revoke or alter the clinic’s permit was taken at the meeting. Councilmembers urged continued monitoring and recommended that businesses document incidents and report them to city staff so code enforcement can investigate.
