McKenzie-Willamette Medical Center officials are continuing plans to relocate the hospital from Springfield to North Eugene, but some neighbors want to convince the state to withdraw its previous stamp of approval.
Representatives from the Oregon Department of Human Services’ Public Health Division heard testimony at an informal hearing last week from affected parties about whether to uphold the state’s Aug. 31 approval for a certificate of need, which allows McKenzie-Willamette to open its new hospital in Eugene.
The proposed $234 million hospital would be located on 42 acres of land that are currently part of the RiverRidge Golf Complex, a site known as Delta Ridge. The hospital campus would consist of a 148-bed, full-service hospital, medical office building and parking.
If McKenzie-Willamette is allowed to move from its current Springfield location to Delta Ridge, it will replace Sacred Heart Medical Center as Eugene’s main full-service hospital. Sacred Heart is relocating from its location on Hilyard Street to Springfield.
Rosie Pryor, director of marketing and planning for McKenzie-Willamette, said the hospital submitted applications to the City of Eugene to have the Delta Ridge site re-zoned from low-density residential to commercial use, which would allow the hospital to build on the site.
The Delta Ridge site has drawn questions and opposition from residents throughout the city and county.
Opponents have taken offense to potentially having two hospitals on the north side of the Willamette River, citing access as a problem. They also have expressed concerns about the new hospital’s effects on traffic in the area.
The site is located in the vicinity of Delta Highway, Green Acres Road and Beltline Road – all known for traffic congestion.
McKenzie-Willamette conducted a new traffic analysis, released on Sept. 18, suggesting that the hospital pay for traffic improvements in the area, which the hospital is willing to do, Pryor said.
Ann Simas, co-founder of the opposition group North Delta Neighbors, said she felt the hospital’s mitigation efforts would not fix traffic problems but just move them around or exacerbate them in some cases.
Simas said the group is also opposed to rezoning the site.
North Delta Neighbors originally began with four members, but now consists of hundreds of members from the surrounding neighborhood, Eugene and Lane County. The group has started two petitions, including an online petition that has more than 500 signatures.
Pryor said McKenzie-Willamette looked at about 30 potential sites for the new hospital, but the Delta Ridge site was available and for sale.
“It would have been great if we had found a perfect site, but unfortunately wishing doesn’t make it so,” Pryor said. “You can’t make someone sell you their property.”
Pryor said that McKenzie-Willamette is trying to be as transparent as it can with the project by taking its plans to neighborhood meetings and the Lane County Fair and by having a scale model of the new hospital buildings at its current hospital.
Yet Simas said the hospital is not doing enough to respond to citizen concerns about the site.
“For projects of this magnitude, you really do have to involve the community,” Simas said.
Jana Fussell, certificate of need coordinator for the state, said people from affected parties have until Oct. 11 to submit testimony and additional information to be reviewed. The department’s final decision will be issued on Oct. 21, after which an affected party can ask for a formal reconsideration hearing.
Alissa Hansen, senior planner in the city planning division, said the hospital and city are still in the first phase of securing land use approval for the site. She said no hearings for the Eugene
Planning Commission and the Eugene City Council have been set, although dates toward the end of the year “seem feasible.”
McKenzie-Willamette and North Delta Neighbors will both appear at the Cal Young Neighborhood Association meeting on Oct. 26.
Residents will have opportunities to comment at scheduled city meetings when they are scheduled.
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