SHREWSBURY - New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie berated residents protesting the opening of a new drug treatment center Thursday, calling the crowd "ignorant" and "intolerant" for opposing the center because of its proximity to an elementary school.

"What I will guarantee you is that the kids in that school, by all the statistics in New Jersey, will need drug and alcohol treatment and you will be the same people who will complain that there’s not enough," Christie said shaking his finger toward the crowd of parents.

"This ignorant, NIMBY attitude won't be stood for in New Jersey."

ELECTION 2017:Governor’s race candidates focus on Christie, major policy plans in opening debate

Christie's comments came as he was celebrating the ribbon-cutting for Seabrook House, an outpatient addiction counseling facility that opened at 21 White St.

Seabrook House President Edward Diehl said the facility will offer both individual and group therapy. He said the center will not be a methadone clinic, an allegation that had been floated among concerned residents.

The center popped on the radar of residents on Tuesday after a new sign went on the building indicating it offered addiction recovery services. Residents searched the name online and found the new center touting services that include "partial hospitalization."

LETTER:Not enough coverage about heroin scourge

Those protesting said drug treatment facilities are needed, but they objected to the center's location along the "Safe Routes to School" walkway, an official designation given to paths used by children to walk and bike to Shrewsbury Borough School, about a quarter-mile away.

"All of the children walk past every day," said John Yorg, a White Street resident who was among the protesters.

The crowd chanted message like "not near the school" and "right idea, wrong location" as Christie and others spoke at the ribbon-cutting.

COMMUNITY:Shrewsbury Chorale marks 60th anniversary

Christie told the crowd the taunts would not stop him: "Much better than you have yelled at me over the last seven and a half years and I’ll ignore you just the way I ignored them."

They also yelled "code violation," a nod to an accusation that Seabrook House did not fully disclose its plans for the facility when it sought approval.

The zoning application for Seabrook House was approved on Dec. 14. It did not go to a municipal board for approval because the application noted that the facility would offer "counseling services," a service that has been offered at 21 White St. for at least 30 years.

But some residents say the services listed on Seabrook House's website go beyond the individual counseling that had previously been offered in the building.The change, they argue, requires a more rigorous approval process.

HEARTWARMING:A Marlboro family's amazing graduation present

Shrewsbury Mayor Don Burden said the facility would need a variance for group therapy.

Diehl said the residents "are mistaken."

"We fully, fully, fully disclosed what we wanted to do here," he said. "The zoning office has an abundance of our material that describes everything from stem to stern of what happens at all of our outpatient facilities."

It's not clear if Shrewsbury officials were provided that information with the December application, based on a copy of Seabrook House's zoning file that the Asbury Park Press requested from the borough.

The packet included the two-page application submitted in December, a photo mockup of the proposed sign, a site map, a listing of previous businesses and a memo from Seabrook House dated May 9 explaining its services.

Diehl said he plans to invite neighbors to the facility so they better understand what it offers. He said neighbors should not fear its clients because those individuals are trying to conquer their addiction.

More:Tragic stories, signs of hope at heroin town hall

"They don't come here and relapse in our parking lot," he said. "They're motivated to stay off substances. If they lose that motivation, they don't show up."

Diehl rebuked how people were in recovery were being characterized on social media.

"We don't sell drugs to children. We don't have double faces and spook kids and jump out from bushes," he said. "We care (about the safety of children) more than most people can imagine."

Susanne Cervenka: 732-643-4229; scervenka@gannettnj.com.