EVERETT – The Everett City Council voted 5-1 late Wednesday that Providence Everett Medical Center may grow and some historic homes may go.
Jennifer Buchanan / The Herald
The council, following the recommendation of Mayor Ray Stephanson, will allow Providence to proceed with its $400 million expansion plan with several stipulations.
“I think we have to look at the good of the whole community,” council President Marian Krell said after the meeting. “Nobody supports neighborhoods as much as I do, but it didn’t seem we had many other options.”
Councilman Ron Gipson was the lone vote against the hospital’s expansion plan.
Though passing the expansion plan, the council said the hospital may not demolish any of the 21 homes in the city’s historic Donovan District until Jan. 1, 2006. That will provide more time to arrange for the relocation of the houses, which are part of an 80-home district that was added to the city’s historic register in 1998.
Medical center chief executive Gail Larson said she was very pleased. “Obviously, there are some challenging conditions we’ll have to work through with the neighborhood and city staff, but we’re pleased to go ahead with our master plan,” she said.
Neighbor and Donovan District resident Nancy Hecht said the hospital still demonstrated only its need, not that its plan is the best way.
“Well, I’m not surprised,” she said after the meeting. “I think it was a done deal before it even went in front of the council.”
Before the council made its decision, Stephanson weighed in to support the hospital.
“I think it really becomes for all of us a decision of benefit versus impact,” the mayor said, adding that 75 percent of economic development efforts begin with businesses already in the community.
At Wednesday’s 41/2-hour meeting, Providence gave its presentation plan and argued that the plan it presented was the only feasible way.
Larson said Providence is celebrating its centennial anniversary this month. “With this process, this development, we will be able to be here for another 100 years,” she said.
The hospital’s neighbors made their pitch.
Hilary Hager and Garrick Hudson-Falcon gave a presentation about the hospital’s expansion from the neighbors’ perspective. Hager held up a petition with 250 signatures asking for a delay in the process.
“The issue is complex, important and permanent enough to warrant a delay,” she said.
Neighbors said they worry about the height of the buildings, which could reach 175 feet. And they worry about the effect of the growth on their quality of life, including building height, traffic and 15 to 20 years of construction.
“Most definitely, this issue is too complex to be ruled on in a rash decision,” Hudson-Falcon said. “Decisions made this evening are your legacy to those who come after you.”
Providence is looking to expand to keep up with Snohomish County’s population, which is expected to grow by 50 percent by 2025.
Most of Providence’s inpatient services are provided at the Colby Campus, including its heart institute, vascular institute and trauma center. Its Pacific Avenue campus has outpatient and women and children’s services.
Hospital officials say Providence is stretching at the seams, and as the county’s only nonprofit medical center, it must be able to expand to meet growing health care needs.
The hospital’s 15- to 20-year project would double its current work force, adding 2,200 jobs. It would also increase Providence’s available beds to 500 from 363, and more than double the number of parking spots at the Colby Campus to 1,800 from 809.
The controversy is not in the hospital’s need to grow, but in its plans to expand eastward and remove a block of historic homes. The block would be used temporarily for parking, but would eventually house a parking garage and bed tower.
The hospital owns the 21 homes it wants to remove, but they are part of the 80-home Donovan District, which was added to the city’s historical register in 1998.
Many residents have said they support the hospital’s expansion, but not at the expense of the homes and dismantling the historic district. They also say the hospital hasn’t made a convincing case that eastward expansion is the only way.
Providence Everett Medical Center officials argue that the hospital has spent years and more than $1 million hammering out the best possible plan.
Earlier this month, the Everett Planning Commission unanimously recommended that the hospital be allowed to move forward with the first phase of its master plan, which includes a new cancer center, two new towers for hospital rooms and three new parking garages.
The commission had a few conditions, including that Providence build a permanent 50- to 100-foot-wide greenbelt between its eastern side and the neighborhood.
The commission would also like to see a requirement prohibiting the hospital from ever moving east of Oakes Avenue and further into the neighborhood.
The planning commission strongly advised that the hospital do its best to move as many of the houses as possible. Last week, the Everett Historical Commission agreed, calling on the hospital to relocate at least 16 of the homes.
Hospital officials have said they are working with two developers, one of which has presented a plan to move about 15 of the homes to an undisclosed site.
The homes that could be moved would likely be relocated by the end of the year.
Reporter Jennifer Warnick: 425-339-3429 or jwarnick@ heraldnet.com.
Before the council
Wednesday’s Everett City Council decision directs the city’s planning department in finalizing Providence Everett Medical Center’s place in the city’s comprehensive plan. The plan will be completed this summer.
Because the hospital cannot begin construction until after Jan. 1, 2006, it will spend the rest of the year arranging to move and attempting to relocate many of the 21 houses.
What’s next
Tonight’s Everett City Council decision gives the city’s planning department direction in finalizing Providence Everett Medical Center’s place in the city’s comprehensive plan. The plan will be completed this summer.
Because the hospital cannot begin construction until after Jan. 1, it will spend the rest of the year arranging to move and attempting to relocate many of the 21 houses.
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