LEBANON, N.H. (AP) – Lebanon city officials revoked a zoning permit for a proposed methadone clinic, saying the initial application was improperly represented as “retail.”

But the attorney for Habit Management Inc., the company that wants to set up the clinic, said the firm filed a request Thursday that its permits be reinstated, and also produced evidence that city officials were at least generally aware since last fall that the company was eying West Lebanon for a methadone clinic.

“It was nothing that was ever hidden,” lawyer Barry Schuster said. “It’s the equivalent of any social service agency.”

The area is zoned as a general commercial district. There are close to 40 permitted uses under that zoning category, including retail stores, banks, restaurants, day-care centers and churches, but none permitting clinics or health care facilities.

Methadone’s most common medical use is as a legal substitute for heroin in treatment programs for drug addiction. It is usually administered to participating addicts daily in the form of a green, tasteless liquid at a drug treatment clinic.

Habit Management is a Boston-based company that runs 10 methadone clinics in Massachusetts and one in Manchester, according to its Web site. New Hampshire’s two other methadone clinics are in Somersworth and Hudson.

City officials said they had been unaware before Wednesday that a methadone clinic was planned for the site.

Carmela Hennessy, city codes enforcement director, told the City Council that she initially approved a permit application to redo the interior of the building, in large part because the application was labeled “retail.”

City officials received the original application on Dec. 1, 2003. That application listed “retail” as the building’s use, but left the “name of tenant” space blank. It wasn’t until about a month ago that the application was amended to include Habit Management in the tenant space.

“They gave the name, but never changed the use from retail,” Hennessy said. She issued the building and zoning permit on April 22.

Hennessy said Habit Management could submit another application for an office use. She would have to reply within 30 days.

” Office’ is allowed in that zone. However, I would have to determine whether this particular form, or what they term office use,’ is appropriate based on the zoning ordinance,” she said.

Lebanon Mayor Cliff Desrosiers expressed reservations about the proposed site, noting it is near a McDonald’s restaurant, a sandwich shop and a beauty salon with young employees.

A methadone clinic, Desrosiers said, “is not just serving locally. You’re bringing in people from all over the place, and if they are going to line up there at 5:30 in the morning, it may not be suitable for the area that they are thinking of, because there are a lot of young people in that area.”

Desrosiers said, “It creates a situation where something negative can happen, and I don’t think that’s what we want to do.”

Phil Desmond, owner of Brown Furniture next to the building, said he had concerns about having a methadone clinic as a neighbor.

“I’m delighted that the City Council has stopped the construction. I am against this. It is bad for the community. It’s dangerous for our staff,” he said, declining to specify what dangers could exist.

“Having the clinic in the heart of the shopping area would draw individuals from a wider area that would be a detriment to my business,” Desmond said.

Schuster said he is confident Habit officials would be willing to hold a public meeting to discuss their clinic.

” I think they are most anxious to have the community aware of what they are doing, because they will be providing a service to the community. Understanding and awareness only helps everybody,” he said.

Habit Management has run into difficulty before trying to locate a methadone clinic in New Hampshire, near the Vermont border. A bid to open a clinic in Newport fell through last year after the landlord decided not to lease to the company.

Also last year, Habit Management won initial approval for a clinic in a former paint store in Chesterfield, a half-mile from Brattleboro, Vt., but lost out.

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Information from: Lebanon Valley News, http://www.vnews.com

AP-ES-05-07-04 0746EDT