Moratorium put on licenses for new counseling facilities

Judy Odierna

Thursday, April 3, 2003 | 9:17 a.m.

The Las Vegas City Council voted unanimously Wednesday to place a 60-day moratorium on new licenses or locations for drug and alcohol treatment or counseling facilities.

City staff members will review the existing locations of the facilities and decide whether to change how the facilities are zoned. They hope to bring the issue before the Planning Commission later this month.

The item was brought before the council at the urging of Councilman Michael McDonald, who asked questions in February about how a drug treatment center wound up in a residential neighborhood.

The city is currently in a bind trying to find a new home for Choices Group Inc., a center that provides court-ordered counseling for drug and alcohol offenders.

The center was originally located on Third Street and applied to move to 800 S. Valley View Blvd., the former offices of the Las Vegas Sun, in August 2001.

The business license application was initially denied because a special use permit was needed for that area. But somehow during the same month the facility was granted a permit for an outpatient drug treatment center.

The location is near Hyde Park Middle School, a park and a residential neighborhood.

McDonald alleged in February that some city employees approved the center to make himself and Mayor Oscar Goodman look bad. An investigation into the events surrounding the matter was opened and is still pending.

Choices now has to be moved -- which could cost the city more than $1 million to take over the facility's five-year lease.