BayMark Health Services’ plan to open an opioid treatment center in Wellesley Lower Falls has spurred concerned parents to launch a Change.org petition aimed at stopping the facility from being located too close to schools for their comfort. The petition starts off: “The Wellesley Concerned Parents need your support to oppose the operation of a drug addiction detox facility in close proximity to our schools and parks!”

The Coleman Institute, which uses a combination of Naltrexone therapy and long-term case management to lead patients to recovery, would be located at 30 Washington St., not far from the St. John School, Schofield Elementary School, a couple of nursery schools and Warren Park. The center would serve as a regional facility, according to BayMark.

Concerned parents met recently to air their thoughts in advance of a Wellesley Board of Selectmen meeting on Oct. 22 to which Coleman reps have been invited. One of the group’s missions will be to ask the town “to amend the zoning bylaws to prevent drug addiction detox/treatment facilities from operating within proximity to our schools and parks.”

The group states that access to opioid treatment is needed, just in another location in town or elsewhere.

BayMark has been planning to open its facility by the end of next month. As the Swellesley Report first reported in September, BayMark has more than a dozen Coleman Institutes across the country in many major cities, and has been operating such facilities for about 20 years.

When we first reported the story, Coleman’s impending arrival was news to town officials, though the Board of Selectmen acknowledged BayMark’s plans and residnts’ concerns in a statement issued at the start of its meeting the following week.