Patterson clinic may go to public vote
Group backs moveto business park
By Ken Carlson
Tuesday, Sep. 15, 2009
Supporters of a plan to move the Del Puerto Health Center to a larger building at the Keystone Pacific Business Park filed a notice Monday to put the issue on the ballot.
The City of Patterson Healthcare Expansion Act would amend the city's zoning ordinance and a development agreement to allow the 11,000-square-foot health center at the business park in west Patterson. Spearheading the initiative is a group called Patterson Citizens for Expanded 21st Century Healthcare.
"This initiative will provide Patterson residents with local access to quality health care instead of having to travel to Modesto and beyond," said Kathy Wright, a former Patterson councilwoman who delivered the 91-page initiative to City Hall.
She and former Planning Commissioner Luis Molina and Patterson resident Mary Pat Thompson are leading the group.
The next step is for the city attorney to write a title and summary for the initiative. Once that is done, supporters need to collect signatures from 10 percent of Patterson's 7,000 or so registered voters.
If the group is successful, the City Council could adopt the initiative or place it on the ballot. It's too late to make the November election, so the city could hold a special election in the spring. A special vote could cost $35,000, City Manager Cleve Morris said.
The health care district signed an agreement to buy an 11,000-square-foot building at Keystone to replace its 5,000-square-foot center on Ward Avenue.
The Planning Commission gave approval for the move this year, but the current landlord of the Ward Avenue clinic appealed the decision. In May, the City Council supported the appeal, saying the city's zoning regulations do not permit medical facilities at Keystone.
Officials with the Del Puerto Health Care District say the larger facility is needed to provide primary care for more patients and a range of specialty services, including pediatrics, internal medicine, cardiology, radiology, telemedicine and radiology.
The Ward Avenue center has about 6,500 regular patients; the district expects to serve 2,000 to 3,000 additional patients with the new center, said Margo Arnold, the district's chief executive officer.
Backers of the new center have been working on the initiative for a few months. Monday, they released the results of a July 6-12 telephone survey of 300 Patterson residents conducted by EMC Research, a public opinion consulting firm with an office in Oakland.
According to EMC, 72 percent of respondents said they would support a ballot measure amending the zoning of the business park to allow for additional commercial, industrial and health care operations. Eighteen percent were opposed and 10 percent undecided, the firm said.
Molina said the district is trying to expand access to health care services for the 21,000 city residents. People living in West Side communities from Grayson to Gustine also use the outpatient services. "We're hoping the council will do the right thing and allow the expansion of services in Patterson," Molina said.
Not everyone agrees with the Keystone location, however. Mimi Draper of Patterson said it's too far from the underserved populations on the east side of the city. She suggested a more central location.
"It is too far for people who need transportation," Draper said. "I am seeing mothers with strollers coming across (the railroad tracks) going to the (Ward Avenue) center."
Councilwoman Annette Smith objected that taxpayers will have to pay for an election, when Keystone could go through a zoning amendment process.
The Del Puerto district would spend $4.2 million to buy the building and 2.17 acres of land and install improvements. Taxes collected by the district would subsidize the services until the center becomes self-supporting, Arnold said.
