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Triad's
Turkey Sprawl opponents are crying foul over a Triad proposal for a new hospital on the far north edge of Eugene. "It's a turkey," said Lauri Segel, a planning advocate with the state land-use watchdog group, 1000 Friends of Oregon. "It's a terrible sprawl location," said Kevin Matthews, president of Friends of Eugene. "It's crazy."
For its new $225 million hospital with 825 employees, Triad chose 42 acres of golf course on a rural cul-de-sac off Delta Highway that's outside city limits. Such sprawl development is widely criticized for increasing taxes because of its heavy demands for new road and other infrastructure and services, increasing pollution from car exhaust, paving over natural areas, increasing traffic congestion, increasing obesity and reducing quality of life. "The more we spread out essential services like this, the further we get from sustainable development in Eugene," Matthews said. To fight sprawl, Eugene's planning goals call for compact urban growth. The city has been trying to get a hospital to locate in the central city since PeaceHealth announced plans to leave downtown for a similar site in north Springfield four years ago. But Triad, the Texas corporation that bought McKenzie-Willamette hospital two years ago, said the RiverRidge golf-course outside Eugene is their top choice. Chris Holden, the regional president for Triad, flew in for the Nov. 16 press conference. "There's lots of space, it's ready to go," he said of the site. Stuck in Traffic But critics said the site is far from ready to go. The huge new hospital and related medical office buildings and development will pour thousands of cars into a freeway intersection that's already one of the worst bottlenecks in the region. Drivers have complained about the Delta Highway-Beltline Highway interchange for years. Fixing the interchange and widening Beltline to accommodate the extra congestion could cost as much as $150 million, officials have estimated. Just increasing capacity at Delta-Beltline with new ramps and a wider overpass could cost at least $8 million, according to earlier estimates. Widening Beltline to the east including a wider Willamette River bridge and ramp work could cost another $17 million, planners have estimated. Triad's local hospital director Roy Orr suggested the city should use the estimated $3.2 million a year the city will get in new tax revenue from the hospital to subsidize roadwork for the project. The most Holden would offer was that the corporation was "not ruling out" helping to pay for some of the road work. Whatever Triad doesn't pay, taxpayers could get stuck with. That's not fair, said Matthews. "People here are taxed for growth that often reduces the quality of life for the people who are already here," Matthews said. "They need to pay their own way." Any taxpayer subsidies for the site will increase Triad's corporate profits. Triad is one of the nation's largest for-profit hospital chains with more than 50 hospitals in the South and West and almost $5 billion in annual revenues. State regulations may force the corporation to cough up more than it expects for the road work. A citizen lawsuit forced PeaceHealth to pay $17 million for freeway and other road work around its RiverBend hospital site near the clogged I-5 and Beltline interchange. Like Triad now, PeaceHealth argued that it wouldn't have a big traffic impact and wasn't responsible for solving traffic problems. But state land-use rules require big projects to have adequate transportation infrastructure in place, and the hospital lost in court. Triad may have to pay even more than PeaceHealth, according to Jan Wilson, an attorney with CHOICES (Coalition for Health Options In Central Eugene–Springfield). Plans for an I-5-Beltline interchange overhaul near PeaceHealth's site were already in the pipeline and partially funded. PeaceHealth only had to pay to speed them up. But plans for a Beltline-Delta overhaul and highway widening aren't even on the drawing board and with no funding identified, would take much more money from Triad to get fast tracked. Even if Triad offered to foot the cost, it could take years to get the roadwork in the funding pipeline, planed, processed and completed. TransPlan, the region's official planning document, estimates that such major transportation projects "can take as long as 10 years to complete" from inception to concrete. More delay could come from requirements to amend the region's land use plans. The MetroPlan would require rezoning the golf course from its current residential designation to commercial. That would take hearings and majority votes by planning commissions and elected bodies from Eugene, Springfield and Lane County. "It could be anything between two and five years, just for the land use [amendments], assuming everything goes swimmingly," Wilson said. But things won't go swimmingly, she said, since legal appeals against the controversial siting decision are likely. Wilson and Segel said such appeals would have a good chance of winning. State land use goals and regulations protect farm land from urban sprawl and limit rezoning residential land to commercial if there's inadequate supplies of residential land, as homebuilders have argued for years. To meet urbanization rules, Triad could also have to argue that it had no options within the city to build a hospital, despite the city offering numerous other sites, Segel said. "That would be a hard argument to make." Matthews calls Delta tragically similar to PeaceHealth's RiverBend site. "One sprawl hospital is bad enough. We don't need two sprawl hospitals." While PeaceHealth was able to use local political muscle and land use expertise to pull off its deal eventually, Matthews doubts the Texas corporation has the same local clout. Wilson agrees, "we're working with a Texas company that doesn't have a clue." Ploy? With so many transportation and planning obstacles, critics wonder if Triad is actually serious about the Delta site. "It's a ploy," said Segel, who suspects Triad must know that the site is "completely unrealistic." "It can't be a real [sitting] decision, it doesn't make sense," Wilson said. "This site is not happening," she said. "Something else is going on."
Critics speculated that Triad may have no intention of actually locating at Delta and could be using the site to get in line for a required hospital certificate of need (CoN) from the state. Earlier this year, the state refused to process Triad's application for a certificate concurrent with PeaceHealth's application for more beds at it's downtown facility. After lobbying from PeaceHealth, the state said Triad needed a solid purchase agreement on a site before it would accept the application. Triad complained that PeaceHealth would gobble up the limited number of new hospital beds available and sued the state, but lost. With a purchase agreement for the Delta site, Triad said last week it would immediately re-apply for the state CoN. Another ulterior motive, critics speculated, could be to pressure property owners at other sites or the city of Eugene to offer a lower land price or greater subsidies. Triad may also be using the site as a political bludgeon, critics speculated. An outcry by progressives on the council against the site could allow Triad to blame them for chasing the hospital out of Eugene. Pro-sprawl interests have already sought to blame council progressives for chasing PeaceHealth to Springfield. The Register-Guard has provided a powerful bullhorn for the argument. In a front page article and editorial this month, the paper blasted Mayor Kitty Piercy for allegedly criticizing a developer's effort to locate the hospital off Crescent Avenue, near vacant north Eugene land the paper is trying to sell. The paper said the mayor and council had "shoed" PeaceHealth from the site in 2001 and could now "stampede a second hospital off Crescent and into Springfield." Councilors and environmentalists have long refuted the R-G and developer's "stampede" argument. PeaceHealth actually loaned money to a developer to buy the RiverBend land in Springfield before the council threatened to block a hospital at Crescent, leading many to say that the hospital intended to move to Springfield all along. The council also quickly backed off on blocking development at Crescent, but PeaceHealth said it would move to Springfield anyway. In using the media to play jurisdictions off against each other, "Triad's tactics are eerily reminiscent of PeaceHealth's," said Eugene Councilor Bonny Bettman. "They have a strategy," Segel said of Triad. "It's to distract people and make an exit from Eugene by making it look like Eugene forced us out." Support Triad executive Roy Orr vehemently denied that they weren't serious about the Delta site and were just using it to get a certificate of need from the state. The city of Eugene, appears to be taking the announcement seriously. Staff are investigating the planning and transportation issues and the City Council has scheduled a work session for Nov. 28. At the news conference, Eugene Mayor Kitty Piercy said the Delta site has her "full support." She argued that the hospital would provide for "babies being able to be born in Eugene." Piercy said Triad would provide needed hospital competition, better access for West Eugene and provide tax revenue to the city. "I think it's in the best interests of our community." Triad's PR firm Funk/Levis sent out a press release for the corporation stating that the choice where to put the hospital "came down to location, availability, cost," and Triad was "very pleased" with the result. Greg McLauchlan, a Piercy advisor and supporter and UO sociology professor, elaborated on arguments supporting the Delta site. McLauchlan said that while the site "is maybe not ideal" and there are "legitimate" concerns, good planning could mitigate the sprawl impact. McLauchlan said a bus or even rail line could quickly link the site to downtown and the site could be designed with walkable density. McLauchlan said the hospital would serve the fastest growing, northern part of the city. "What we need to get away from is Eugene has a downtown and everything else is sprawl." The Delta site could draw development investment away from downtown, McLauchlan said, but so could Glenwood, Springfield's rival site for the hospital. The road improvements demanded for the site could help pull funding away from the West Eugene Parkway, long a target of environmentalists for its threat to wetlands, McLauchlan said. "That could be a good thing." Supporting the Delta site also protects progressive elected officials from criticism if Triad leaves for Springfield, McLauchlan argues. "What happens when The Register-Guard starts trumpeting, 'Eugene loses second hospital?'" he asks. The R-G editorial page has already argued this month that not having Triad locate in Eugene would "represent a colossal failure of political and economic leadership on the part of Eugene's elected officials." Eugene needs Triad to provide hospital competition to keep costs down and provide reproductive health services that the Catholic PeaceHealth denies, according to McLauchlan. He said that because of the state's certificate of need process, "there still is a real risk that [Triad's local hospital] could have been forced right out of business if they did not find a suitable site." Opposition Opponents don't buy these arguments. Wilson said the Eugene babies argument is "stupid." Glenwood, the leading site option outside Eugene, is in Springfield's annexation area but actually has a Eugene postal address, she points out. Matthews points out many babies will still be born in clinics and at home. "There will in fact still be babies born in Eugene." Jack Roberts, the Republican director of the local Metropolitan Partnership business recruiting group, said he's staying out of the hospital debate. But he said, "no one's going to say, gosh, our child wasn't born in Eugene ... That's silly." He added that he didn't think "this battle of the two cities really makes a difference." The R-G and other development interests have promoted the supposed Eugene vs. Springfield competition for siting decisions as a way to increase subsidies and reduce regulations, anti-sprawl critics say. If such a race-to-the-bottom competition results in "one city lowering its environmental or other regulations or offering undue tax break incentives," McLauchlan said, "the competition certainly doesn't benefit the residents or taxpayers" of both cities. The R-G argued that Eugene stands to lose jobs to Springfield if the hospital goes there. But Otto Poticha, a local architect and planning consultant, said Springfield and Eugene residents have always crossed the invisible city lines to work. "These two cities are one city," he said. "I cannot imagine why we have to be so damn ... cityistic." Councilor Taylor said she was "shocked" that Piercy quickly announced her support for the project without knowing the details. She said she's unconvinced by the argument of new tax revenue, since it would be quickly consumed by all the new road and other infrastructure and firefighting and other services the city would have to extend to the edge site at great expense. The new revenue "is still not a factor big enough to do stupid planning," Taylor said. As for Triad packing up and leaving Eugene at PeaceHealth's mercy if it doesn't get what it wants, councilor Bettman dismissed the threat as a "scare tactic." Roberts said with Glenwood available as an alternative, he'd be "very surprised" if Triad gave up and left entirely. Triad officials themselves have never threatened to leave the area altogether. Holden said the corporation was attracted by the size of the local market and the unusual fact that it's largely served by only one hospital. He said over time Triad envisions doubling its local market share at PeaceHealth's expense. Mounting criticism of the Delta site may be having an impact. Within 24 hours of the site announcement, Piercy was backing off her initial statement of "full support" for the Delta site. She wrote in an e-mail, "I am supporting it unless there are requests within the application that are unacceptable or information comes forward that causes me to change my mind." Options Delta critics say many other options are available to site the hospital. The high costs and delays that come with the Delta site could make the downtown EWEB site more attractive. EWEB officials are expecting a report on possible moving costs this month and might yet strike a deal if they see a higher Triad offer. The Eugene City Council has already committed to spending at least $15 million to subsidize the site for Triad, largely in the form of a new railroad underpass. Matthews said Triad also didn't give the downtown PeaceHealth clinic site a "fair shake." After PeaceHealth's anti-trust court conviction against it's competing hospital and the way it treated Eugene, "I don't think the city should think twice" about condemning the property and selling it to Triad for a hospital. The hospital should also re-consider the central 2nd and Chambers Street site, Matthews said. The industrial area may not have been "swanky" enough for Triad, but the Delta site is surrounded by gravel pits and dump truck traffic, he noted. Eugene's downtown sites offer greater distance from PeaceHealth's RiverBend facility, the ostensible reason for Triad to move it's existing hospital from Springfield. The Delta site is only about a minute longer drive from RiverBend than the existing hospital site. "It seems a little ridiculous," Taylor said. Triad has dismissed the downtown Eugene options as too expensive or time-consuming. The Triad corporation doesn't appear to have much of a commitment or interest in urban redevelopment. It's headquarters in Texas is located in a farm field near a freeway on the edge of a suburb on the edge of Dallas. Another hospital the corporation is now building in Alaska has a similar sprawl location. But Triad's Orr did say corporation executives "continue to be very interested" in the Glenwood site as a backup for Delta. Sprawl opponents said they still prefer one of the downtown Eugene locations but view the central Glenwood site as preferable to Delta, even though the Glenwood site would be annexed to Springfield. Poticha did consulting work for Springfield on the area and said "the Glenwood site is a perfect site for them." The hospital would provide urban renewal revenue to attractively redevelop the industrial riverfront in the area and the site would be served by the new Bus Rapid Transit corridor, he said. "Glenwood makes a lot more sense," Matthews agreed. In Glenwood "we have a very excellent backstop," Orr said. "It's very risky for us to put all our eggs in one basket." With the Delta site, sprawl opponents say Triad's basket is already full of rotten turkey eggs. |
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