2005/12/05 Council Agenda Packet

hospital administration, plans were drawn up that were later abandoned, and residents had no clear understanding of which direction PEMC's expansion would take. Most recently, in 2000, PEMC had plans to expand to the park at Colby and 13' for their Women's Health Pavilion, but then changed their minds. In the midst of the hospital's indecision over the years, the owner -occupancy rate in the Donovan District significantly increased, and the historical significance of the homes was recognized. In recent years as the hospital has been developing this most recent plan, there have been no formal opportunities to oppose or provide input with regards to the direction of the expansiovery recently, when the hospital has all but finalized their plans. - Expansion Alternatives Community College Property PEMC indicates there are three main obstacles to the expansion onto the College property: changing the use of the 13th and Wetmore lot from out-patient to in-patient care in order to create adjacency, the delay that would result from trying to purchase the field from the State, and the fact that a "reconfiguration of existing facilities" would result. PEMC claims that in order to utilize the college playing fields as a care facility, it would need to be immediately adjacent to other inpatient facilities on 13' and Wetmore. Because the current plan calls for this block to be used as an outpatient Cancer Care facility (with equal square footage designated for office space) rather than an inpatient facility, they claim the college property will not meet their needs. . PEMC states time and time again that we are on the cusp of a health care crisis in Snohomish County, that the hospital is "often at or near full capacity" and that any delay "would exacerbate an already precarious situation." Why then, is the first order of business in the Colby expansion to transform what is essentially open space on 13'h and Wetmore into a Cancer Center and Medical Office Building (CC/MOB) which will provide outpatient services? The logical first step would be to increase the capacity to provide acute care to the citizens of the county. One option would be to follow the model developed by other health care providers to build a cancer center that is not immediately adjacent, but rather even more accessible, located on a major thoroughfare, such as the property owned by PEMC on North Broadway. PEMC continues to express interest in purchasing the college playing fields in the near future in order to build a major medical office complex, thus further degrading the residential quality of the north end of Everett. Finally, any expansion of the Colby campus—but especially on the scale outlined in the 20 year master plan—will result in the need for reconfiguration of existing facilities and infirastructure; indeed, that is the stated goal. Providence Pacific Campus PEMC is creating the scarcity of space they intend to rectify by expansion onto block 248: PEMC is currently leasing out 111 beds over three floors to Bethany of the Northwest at their Pacific Campus, and has since 1992. This allocation of beds for non- acute care uses contributes to the shortage of beds they are trying to alleviate by