The City Council on Wednesday scrapped a proposed land use change that would have blocked Sacred Heart Medical Center from expanding into North Eugene and directed city staff to continue discussions with the hospital’s parent company, PeaceHealth.
While the vote dropped one hurdle to PeaceHealth’s planned expansion to North Eugene, hospital spokesman Brian Terrett said the meeting presented a new setback for PeaceHealth.
The council didn’t vote on a motion to seek state dollars for an interchange between the Belt Line Highway and Coburg Road that Terrett said the hospital would need to open at its preferred site near Crescent Avenue.
“We’re pretty disappointed,” Terrett said after the council session. “The council had an opportunity to take clear, decisive action to help us build on the North Eugene campus. To have the council vote only to continue to discuss is a setback … We’re at the point now where we need to take action.”
The next City Council meeting on the issue will be held Sept. 10, after the council’s summer vacation.
Since March, when PeaceHealth first announced it would build a new inpatient center to relieve overcrowding at Sacred Heart, the city has tried to keep the hospital downtown to promote compact urban growth and to keep hundreds of jobs in the area.
At Wednesday’s meeting, most councilors admitted they can’t force PeaceHealth into building downtown but asserted the council should continue seeking the best possible solution for the city.
Councilors Betty Taylor, Bonny Bettman and David Kelly argued that they still support building a hospital downtown and said the city needs more time to discuss options.
“I know we can’t decide where the hospital will be, but it’s our duty to see it is placed in the right place for the city,” Taylor said.
Taylor said she would rather see Sacred Heart expand to a site at Willamette Street and 12th Avenue, which she said would be composed of hospital-owned property and lots the city would purchase from current owners.
Though PeaceHealth soundly rejected this plan in late July, when it announced it would not build downtown and would focus only on the North Eugene site, Taylor said “it’s too soon to give up.”
Kelly also supported the Willamette site and opposed construction in North Eugene.
“It seems clear to me that the largest employer in the county and the largest cause of traffic at the edge of the city would be bad for taxpayers,” he said.
The council’s five other members indicated they had given up on keeping the hospital downtown.
While councilors debated scrapping the proposed land use change, Councilor Pat Farr said discussions to keep the hospital expansion downtown were futile.
“Are we just trying to fool ourselves?” he said. “They’re not going to build downtown … The Crescent site is a good site.”
Councilor Nancy Nathanson said keeping the hospital downtown might no longer be an option.
“The case didn’t need to be made to us; over the past few months the case should have been made to PeaceHealth,” she said.