Fircrest may be closing

The state is considering closing Fircrest School in Shoreline and moving its residents to other facilities.

A preliminary state legislative audit report released Oct. 31 says that the state’s five residential habilitation centers for qualified developmentally disabled citizens are underutilized and the buildings are falling apart. The report finds that no single facility specializes in a type of care that could not be replicated at other facilities, and that all facilities have enough space to house more residents.

Fircrest provides 24-hour residential housing for 267 developmentally disabled adults.

The report, done by the Joint Legislative Audit and Review Committee, finds that the five facilities could be consolidated, and that two of them, Fircrest and Frances Haddon Morgan Center in Bremerton could be sold, as could excess land at the other three facilities, Rainier School in Buckley, Yakima Valley School in Selah and Lakeland Village in Medical Lake.

Fircrest was built during World War II as a naval hospital and needs about $25 million in capital improvements. Closing and selling the facility could translate into approximately $32.7 million in savings or revenue to the state, because the facility has potential alternative uses and market value. Closing and selling the Frances Haddon Morgan Center could generate about $2.9 million for the state. Selling the excess land at the other three facilities could provide about $7 million, the report says.

The savings and revenue may sound good to lawmakers as they face a projected $2.6 billion deficit for the next biennial budget.

Gov. Gary Locke is aware of the study, although it is too soon to tell if the findings will appear in his proposed 2003-05 budget, said Kirsten Kendrick, a spokeswoman for Locke. The governor is expected to release his proposed budget on Dec. 20.

The Legislature mandated the audit in 2001 and Sen. Darlene Fairley, D-Lake Forest Park, said it did so to look at all options.

“We needed to take an unemotional look at just where we were financially on the facilities and what would make the most sense in the future,” Fairley said.

According to the report, population at the five schools peaked in 1967 at 4,145 residents. Since then, advocates such the Arc of King County pushed for more treatment and care in homes and home-like settings.

“Our common goal is to promote independence of people with developmental disabilities and to help them live like the rest of us in the community,” said Joanne Whitehead, executive director of the Arc of King County.

Whitehead said the decline in residents at the state institutions is due to the fact that “families are learning that they have options, and they can help their children learn to live somewhat independently in the community. It used to be thought that institutions is the best place for them, but that has changed.”

Also, a 1999 U.S. Supreme Court decision requires states to place persons with mental and developmental disabilities in the least restrictive setting that is possible and appropriate. The five state schools house approximately 1,200 residents today.

According to the audit report, the state Division of Developmental Disabilities spends 26 percent of a $594 million budget serving the three percent of the state’s disabled population who live in the residential centers.

Whitehead said it was only a matter of time before the facilities are closed.

“There’s been talk about it for years, and I suspect the driving reason, besides the federal court and the state budget, is the declining populations,” she said.

Families and friends of residents in Fircrest say the facility provides resources unlike any other in the state.

“Fircrest was the first residential center in the U.S. to have its own dental department,” said Friends of Fircrest president Dorothy Brenchley. “Many of the residents are highly affected – either medically fragile or have difficulty sitting still and can’t function well. It is difficult to find a dentist that will deal with that,” she said.

Fircrest also offers a respite program, so that families in the community with disabled family members can take a two-week break from providing care. During that time, the disabled person lives at Fircrest. If Fircrest closes, these services may be lost, Brenchley said.

Fairley said she is aware of these unique services, and said if this proposal goes forward, “We may have more accessible space, like in a strip mall to set up a clinic and provide dental care there. We don’t need huge buildings that are falling apart and need millions of dollars in repair to provide these services.”

Brenchley says moving the residents would also be traumatic for them and their families.

Fairley said, “I understand the families concerns, but we will be looking at statistics of the number of visits these residents receive, and where the families are coming from, so we can place them in the most appropriate setting.”

Another issue to consider is that the caretakers at Fircrest are unionized.

If the state closes the institution, the jobs would most likely follow the residents to the state’s other facilities, Fairley said.

“This is not to say that the jobs will go away, the jobs will stay, because you will be servicing the same people, they will just be moving,” she said.

Another hang-up may involve land ownership. The Fircrest property is divided in ownership between the state Department of Natural Resources and the Department of Social and Health Services. According to the report, differing restrictions on uses, shape, location and current long-term leases could limit the alternative uses of the campus.

Shoreline City Manager Steve Burkett said the Fircrest property is close to 90 acres that is currently off the tax rolls, and would be very marketable if the state were to sell it.

“I think the most positive outcome we could get from this is if the state sold the property and we had a very progressive developer who bought the property and worked with the city and neighborhood to develop a master plan for the neighborhood that would be an asset,” Burkett said.

“This is a unique parcel of land in the Seattle region, so I think we could really attract developers and could do something that will generate property tax revenue and jobs, like for example mixed-use retail, job generating office buildings and perhaps some housing.”