Tuesday night might be the city’s last chance to woo PeaceHealth into expanding its hospital downtown.
Six lots near downtown that could become sites for a new hospital will be discussed in a public forum at 7 p.m. Tuesday at St. Mary’s Catholic Church, 1062 Charnelton St.
Last week, after the forum was scheduled, PeaceHealth, which owns the Sacred Heart Medical Center, announced it would not consider building downtown and would focus only on expanding into North Eugene.
This was the latest development in a nearly five-month negotiation between PeaceHealth and the city over the expansion of Sacred Heart. PeaceHealth wants to move most inpatient services to a vacant lot near Crescent Avenue in North Eugene, but the City Council has been pushing to keep the hospital downtown to promote compact urban growth and to keep hundreds of jobs in the area.
After PeaceHealth’s announcement last week, City Manager Jim Johnson indicated he was willing to allow the hospital to be built in North Eugene so it would stay in Eugene.
However, the City Council, which has the final say, has not yet made such a concession.
“I hope the options the city staff discusses will get enough public support to make PeaceHealth reconsider,” Councilor David Kelly said.
PeaceHealth spokesman Brian Terrett said hospital officials will listen, but are inclined to oppose any plans that require leveling existing structures.
“The information we have now is that there is no support of condemnation,” he said, referring to a recent PeaceHealth public opinion survey finding that most respondents opposed knocking down existing buildings for hospital expansion.
Still, Terrett said: “At this point, we are reviewing our options.”
The last card the council is holding is a zoning change that would prohibit a hospital from being built at the Crescent Avenue location. The council voted at the end of June to take this relatively hard-line approach, but the change wouldn’t go into effect until September.
PeaceHealth could file a conditional use permit before September, begin planning and construction and duck the zoning change.
So far, the University has stayed out of the negotiations.
“We won’t do any serious thinking about consequences until the outcome is clear,” University Vice President Dan Williams said. “We are following the discussions very closely.”
Dr. Gerald Fleischli, the director of the University Health Center, said his only concern was emergency services. If Sacred Heart’s inpatient center is moved to North Eugene, emergency care would still be offered at the Hilyard site, but treatment requiring operations would be routed to Crescent Avenue.
“It is convenient now for students to walk over to the emergency room when we’re closed,” Fleischli said. “That would be less convenient if they moved away.”
PeaceHealth first announced plans to move in March.
Sacred Heart has undergone continual renovation since opening more than 75 years ago, and hospital officials say there is no more room to grow at the existing site.