ROCKLAND (AP) – After years of controversy, hearings and protests, a proposal to open a methadone clinic in Rockland has won the approval of the City Council.

The panel’s 4-1 vote Monday night came nearly a year after Turning Tides Inc. sued the city, alleging that it violated the Americans With Disabilities Act and other laws by restricting the clinic to an outlying area along Route 90.

Turning Tide originally sought to open the clinic on Park Street, but the Council approved a site at the corner of U.S. 1 and Glenwood Avenue. Turning Tide still must get final approval from the planning board.

A sharp increase in the number of Mainers addicted to heroin and OxyContin prompted state health officials to support the opening of new clinics that dispense methadone to curb addicts’ craving for opium-based drugs.

Opponents of the clinic have held public demonstrations in Rockland. At Monday’s meeting, residents expressed concern about the clinic’s proximity to a school bus stop and raised questions about the driving abilities of addicts on methadone.

Voting with the majority was Councilor Hal Perry, who as a resident in November 2004 referred to the proposed Park Street location as turning the gateway to Rockland into the “gateway to hell.”

On Monday, Perry said the city cannot afford to fight the lawsuit. “This was pretty much put in our laps,” he said.

Councilor Adele Grossman Faber cast the lone vote against the contract zoning agreement. She said her vote to zone methadone clinics on Route 90 was designed to keep sole-source pharmacies away from residential areas and put them in locations that afford the greatest patient privacy.

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