A city zoning board will decide Tuesday whether or not to allow a methadone clinic to open just feet away from a public elementary and middle school in Charles Village.

The Board of Municipal and Zoning Appeals will hear the request to allow the use of the first floor of 2541 St. Paul Street, located next to the Margaret Brent School, to be used as a "health care clinic, mental health, substance abuse treatment and counseling services" at 1 p.m. Tuesday.

The effort to open a drug treatment center so close to the school has irked parents and school advocates.

Karen DeCamp, director of neighborhood programs at Greater Homewood Community Corporation, said the nonprofit has been working with parents and the Charles Village Civic Association to oppose the proposal.

"It’s just not an appropriate place for a methadone clinic," DeCamp said. "People need treatment but this is just not an appropriate place for it."

Parents have also been sending letters to David Tanner, executive director of the Office of Municipal Zoning and Appeals, to express their opposition. 

"This clinic sits between the PreK-8 school and the aftercare program," Shannon Delanoy, whose daughter attends the school, wrote in her letter. "The increased volume of traffic that the clinic would bring at an already precarious crosswalk and alleyway could be disastrous for the entire community, especially our children."

According to electronic state tax records, the property at 2541 St. Paul Street was built in 1901, has an enclosed area of 3,027 square feet and its listed use is residential. But the building is currently being used for commercial purposes.

A sign in the window advertises the building as the location for Isacc Ogunsola & Co. CPA. A reporter knocked on the door and no one answered Monday afternoon. There was a voice mail that answered the number on the sign as being the offices of Isacc Ogunsola & Co. CPA.

Juliet Adetunji, the appellant listed on the zoning board docket, could not be reached for comment on this story.