Commentary; Posted: 2/1/06
Poor decisions haunt hospital campus future
By Cliff Buchan
Itís still uncertain what the future will hold for the former District Memorial Hospital campus in Forest Lake. Lawsuits are flying over recent decisions made by the Forest Lake City Council and the actions or lack of actions by the Memorial Hospital District Governing Board.
One thing is certain. The city residents who have formed the Forest Lake Community Association, Inc. to sue the city council and hospital board for misfeasance of duty can expect a game of hard ball when they face the high-powered legal experts who represent the two municipalities, the Lakes International Language Academy Spanish immersion public charter school and Fairview Health Services.
The FLCA legal action attempts to block the purchase agreements that the hospital board allowed Fairview to sign with Duffy Development and Human Services, Inc. and a second entity representing the school. FLCA also contends the city improperly considered applications for permits by both groups.
The legal web was first spun by Duffy-HSI who sued the city after its permit requests were denied over the legal advice of the city attorney. While the lawsuits are yet to reach a judge, the FLCA now expects Fairview and the group representing the charter school to intervene in its case.
We have argued here before that the matter should never have reached this stage of dispute. The lack of oversight on the part of the city and the hospital board and premature moves by Fairview to sell the property are to blame.
The restrictive deed covenants that were placed on the original hospital campus and extended when the hospital board bought additional land and formally platted the campus in 1976 remain a sore spot with many and are a reason for the public to take note.
The deed covenants restrict future use of the hospital campus to medical and health care purposes. That, of course, doesnít fit the definition for the Duffy affordable housing mix, nor the school, for that matter. Attorneys involved in the dispute ó those representing the city, the hospital district, Fairview and the school ó will argue that the covenants have expired based on state statutes.
We would expect no less of an opinion from attorneys who represent a special interest.
We still believe the matter is one that deserves the ruling in a court of law, not the paid opinion of client attorneys.
This is a matter of historical and future importance. If this land is to be preserved for some future public use, that ruling should be mandated.
The entire process has been fraught for what we see as missteps.
Under its lease with the hospital district, Fairview will exercise its lease option to acquire title to the property and hopes to do at a special meeting of the hospital board on Feb. 6. We question Fairviewís authority to exercise purchase agreements when it is not the formal property owner and we question why the hospital board has not been active in monitoring what Fairview has planned for the property.
And now, with the matter tied in legal disputes, is the hospital board free to convey the title to Fairview? Such action would seem questionable. With the FLCA action including a notice of lis pendence, it is clear the title will be the subject of a legal test.
On the cityís part weíve been troubled from the start that it has considered permit requests that show Fairview as the property owner when city rules require that the property owner make application. There is nothing on record, to our knowledge, that the hospital board ever designated Fairview as its agent as city regulations require.
Until the hospital board is able to convey a clear title to Fairview, the hospital district remains as the owner of the property.
And now the city council has added more intrigue and mystery. After earlier denying the Duffy-HSI permits based on the existence of the deed covenants, the council has approved a conditional use permit for the school group. How can there be a difference in the two matters?
Along with granting the permits to the school, the city council action gives the OK for the municipality of Pine City to begin the process of issuing $7.5 million in bonds needed for the school project. The city council action also in effect created a new 4.8 acre parcel for the school on the hospital campus without any benefit of a subdivision action nor a required public hearing.
All this comes as outside groups threaten housing discrimination lawsuits against the city. That group now includes Washington County which hints it may sue the city to prevent a loss of federal HUD funds to the county because of the Forest Lake denial of the Duffy-HSI proposal.
It is evident that outside groups are attempting ó and succeeding ó in stampeding the city into making poor decisions.
The FLCA will likely face a court ruling that may require a sizeable bond to protect other interests in the dispute. That may be enough to break the citizen group but we hope it has the resources and intestinal fortitude to carry the fight to court. A judge may well rule that the decisions by the municipality were reasonable and rule against the FLCA.
Should that happen the next recourse would be for the FLCA to seek recourse from the appellate court. That will be costly and speak again to the hard ball game citizens face.
We believe if average citizens had a voice in this matter they would shout down the actions by the project developers who have been earmarked for state and federal grants and tax credits even though they have no legal title to a specific parcel of land. And citizens in general are not happy with the actions taken by Fairview, the city council and the hospital board.
It seems ironic that it is the citizens who are placed on the hot seat for attempting to question the actions of elected units of government in form of the city council and hospital board. It is shameful that it is the citizens who are tagged with the label ìfrivolousî for contesting these actions.
Tell that to the hundreds upon hundreds of Forest Lake area residents and those in the hospital district who worked their fingers to the bone to raise the money to buy the original hospital site and forked out millions more in tax dollars to support and operate the hospital from 1962 until 1998. For many, it was the legacy to this community and area that they took to their graves.
How dare some people use such a word as ìfrivolousî to describe citizens who want to preserve public land for the public purpose for which it was intended, or at the very least have their day in court on an issue that deserves no less.
Forest Lake Times
P.O. Box 218
880 SW 15 St.
Forest Lake, MN 55025
651-464-4601
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