Commentary; Posted: 10/5/05
Future use of hospital campus needs more study
By Cliff Buchan
It is likely that in early 2006 key decisions will be made regarding the future use of the former District Memorial Hospital building and campus in Forest Lake. We hope those decisions are not made hastily and include careful consideration of what is the best use of the site and the historical context under which the hospital came to be.
Jan. 1, 2006 is a magic date of sorts for Fairview Health Services. On Jan. 1 Fairview has the option to acquire the DMH building and grounds under the 1995 lease that put Fairview in control of the former hospital operation here. Fairview has told the Memorial Hospital District Governing Board it intends to exercise its option to take control of the property.
There should be no argument that Fairview has been a good and welcome addition to this area. The establishment of Fairview Lakes Regional Medical Center in Wyoming has provided a medical facility far beyond what the independent operations in Forest Lake and Chisago Lakes could have even dreamed.
Fairviewís commitment to the area has been exemplary.
But it is the proposed uses of the old hospital campus once Fairview takes possession that have been a point of some controversy in Forest Lake this summer and fall.
Fairview has entered preliminary agreements to convey land on the hospital campus for a 48-unit affordable housing complex and has plans to sell the building to a group that will lease the building to the Lakes International Language Academy, a public charter Spanish immersion school.
The housing complex has come under citizen fire and is still sifting its way through the city approval process. Duffy Development says the project will meet all city requirements for its required conditional use permit. A city decision is expected this fall and proponents of the housing projects are fighting a public relations battle in efforts to gain support.
Some of those initially opposed felt old deed covenants placed on the hospital campus property when it was first acquired in 1956 may block Duffy. There are no covenants on the land Duffy would utilize.
But a review of the deed that is assigned to the land where the hospital was built tells a different story. Covenants do remain that limit future use of the four-acre site to medical purposes. That could pose a problem for the Spanish immersion school.
A 2004 law enacted by the Minnesota Legislature may take the covenants off the property but our lay review of that law does not lead this newspaper to conclude that the deed is automatically free and clear for any future use. We donít see it in such simple terms. Thatís why we hope Fairview moves slowly in 2006 as it makes final decisions on how the property is utilized in the future.
While we understand the schoolís need for more space to handle its rapidly growing enrollment, we also believe there are other uses that might be better for the building.
It is clear in the historical perspective that the Forest Lake founders of DMH wanted the facility and land preserved for medical purposes. That is evident in how the 1960 deed is structured. The restrictions are worthy of future consideration, we believe.
There are needs in the community that are not being addressed today that could fall under the medical purposes umbrella. While nursing home beds are tightly regulated by the state, this could be one use. There remains a need in the area for assisted living facilities. A hospice facility is another potential use. Such uses should not be simply written off as not doable.
What about the school? We donít believe all avenues of some partnership with ISD 831 have been fully explored. Yes, the school district rejected the early overtures by the immersion school to be part of the public school system. Such an agreement should be explored again.
After being rejected it is understandable that the charter school is now willing to go it alone. It would also take a school board and administration willing to admit it was wrong by welcoming the charter school back.
With the public school enrollment falling, there should be a sense of need to bring the charter school back into the fold before even more District 831 students slip away.
And the district has the classrooms available to handle the Spanish school enrollment. Some boundary adjustments may be needed but it is clear a school like Lino Lakes Elementary School could fit into the puzzle as a site for the Spanish immersion school.
We donít know if this option has legs but it does deserve another chance. It does require that the two parties be willing to sit down and discuss the future. In many ways it would seem the partnership would make more sense than the charter school group buying the building. The partnership would be a means of avoiding the debt load and remodeling costs that will be faced by the charter school and it would help ISD 831 stabilize or even expand its enrollment while preserving state pupil aid.
The use of the hospital campus land is a more difficult call. The city of Forest Lake has identified the hospital campus as an area for high-density housing and the mechanics are in place that may make it difficult to deny the Duffy group the right to build. Additional public hearings this fall will give the developers a chance to prove its building will be good for the community.
Our hope, too, is that the grassroots planning of the hospital campus in the 1950s is not callously pitched aside. Without the services that were provided by DMH for nearly 40 years, this area could not have developed to the point it has today.
Fairview is indeed entitled to take possession of the property and move on but we ask that more time and study go into the process and consideration be given to all potential uses and what is best for the campus.
Forest Lake Times
P.O. Box 218
880 SW 15 St.
Forest Lake, MN 55025
651-464-4601
Fax 651-464-4605