2005/12/05 Council Agenda Packet

expanding the Colby Campus. With PEMC claiming to currently be "often at or near full capacity" this represents poor visioning on the part of the hospital planners, who seemingly didn't foresee the impending increase in needs. The space that is currently being leased out at the Pacific campus could be used to house the CGMOB, as it is outpatient in nature and would not need additional acute care support. Rite Aid/North Broadway Property In the DEIS, PEMC outlines the reasons it can't relocate their hospital to the North Broadway property (e.g. not enough space, "Greenfield approach," cost). They claim they would need 40 acres in order to build a new hospital. With the proposed expansion, the Colby campus will be 13.8 acres. Other major local medical centers are able function successfully on less than 40 acres. That issue aside, however; opponents of the expansion of PEMC to the east have never suggested they relocate all of their operations to a different site. A Modest Proposal PEMC is exacerbating their space constraints with the plan they are putting before the Planning Commission. According to section 1.5.2 of the Everett Comprehensive Plan, hospitals and clinics located in residential areas should be confined to "more compact configurations developed intensively rather than allowing them to sprawl into neighborhoods and eliminate housing stock." It is the position of the Donovan neighborhood group that the best option for PEMC's needed growth is to relocate the CC/MOB from the Wetmore property to the North Broadway property. The CC/MOB is an outpatient facility, and therefore its location adjacent to the hospital is not mandatory. The hospital's claims that cancer centers must be adjacent to hospitals do a disservice to other providers such as the Seattle Cancer Care Alliance, other stand-alone cancer centers and their patients. The hospital also points to the PEMC business plan as the reason that having a stand-alone clinic is not an option. Who but the hospital creates their business plan? North Broadway is a major north -south thoroughfare through Everett, and is the city's main portal from the north. PEMC owns 16 acres, which includes approximately 800 parking spaces. Because the site already has the infrastructure needed to support businesses, the hospital would not have to outlay the expense of a "Greenfield approach." This represents an excellent opportunity for PEMC to locate outpatient services in a commercially -zoned area that is more easily accessible to the public and highly visible. The presence of Everett Community College and PEMC's Cancer Center on North Broadway would be an asset to the city and the revitalization of the north end of Everett, and far more favorable visually than the currently empty businesses on the site. By moving the CC/MOB to North Broadway, PEMC would reduce the need for onsite parking, the stated need for demolition of houses on block 248. In addition, they could utilize the Wetmore property for non -adjacency needs such as the medical office building and parking structure currently on the west side of Rockefeller. The Rockefeller space could be used for the replacement bed tower PEMC claims is so critical, without