Right of way costs hospital $500,000

The Daily Inter Lake

North Valley Hospital officials want more discussion and a formal decision on a request to have the city of Whitefish abandon a street easement that's worth $500,000 to the hospital.

At issue is a city transportation plan that designates an extension of 13th Street - which would cross hospital property - as one of several alternatives for creating connectors between the city and southeast neighborhoods. The extension would connect with Voerman Road.

The Arizona-based Aspen Group initially offered $6.9 million for the 15-acre hospital site to build upscale condominiums on the property when North Valley relocates this spring to its new hospital campus. But when Aspen Group executives learned the company would need to preserve the right of way for a possible extension of 13th Street and bridge over Whitefish River, they dropped the offer by $500,000.

In July, the hospital asked the city to rescind the 13th Street alternative. At the time, City Manager Gary Marks advised the City Council to deny the hospital's request, and the matter was put on hold pending further review. It surfaced again at Monday's council meeting.

And again, Marks recommended the council leave the transportation plan alone, saying it shouldn't be changed "out of context to preclude viable future options, especially when the impetus for such change appears to be a drive to simply maximize developable square footage."

The council listened to a review of the plan by Jeff Key, a transportation engineer with Peccia and Associates, then took no action to change the plan.

"WE'RE FRUSTRATED they won't even talk to us," North Valley Hospital Board Chairman Mark Johnson said. "They won't have a dialogue. This council wants to operate in their own world."

Marks disagreed, saying he believes the council has been "very responsive" to the hospital's request. The city also paid to have Key make a presentation at Monday's meeting.

The 13th Street bridge could cost as much as $8 million, a price tag that Johnson believes is pie in the sky. It's "preposterous," he said, for the hospital to have to suffer a loss for a street alternative that perhaps will never be built.

Johnson said he's talked to local legislators who have indicated state or federal money wouldn't be available for such an extension to a rural neighborhood. And he doubts the city could ever afford it.

Hospital Administrator Craig Aasved said he'd like the council to make a formal decision.

"We're not arguing with the transportation plan, but we won't just give land away," Aasved said. " The frustrating thing is I don't think we're being heard."

Dan Johns, a Kalispell attorney who represents North Valley Hospital, said the hospital would like the city to do a cost analysis of the 13th Street alternative so it can effectively gauge its viability. Cost analyses typically aren't included in transportation plans for cities with fewer than 50,000 residents, Key said, but he noted that the "plan wasn't completed in a vacuum."

North Valley Hospital board member Turner Askew estimated the hospital spent at least $1 million for extensive site-review analyses when it was choosing a site.

The decision to build a mile south of Whitefish was controversial and was opposed by many civic leaders who wanted a new hospital built closer to the downtown area. To accommodate opponents, the hospital spent many months studying several potential building sites.

It behooves the city to go the extra mile to find out how much the 13th Street project would cost, Askew said. He maintained another alternative that calls for the extension of Greenwood Drive to Monegan Road would be much more feasible because the city already controls much of that right of way.

"They've left us hanging high and dry," Askew said. "We have no malice; we just don't think this is fair. We acknowledge [the city] can take the land, but somebody's going to have to pay for it. We've got identifiable loss. We've got damages."

Another factor complicating the feasibility of a 13th Street bridge is a parcel of city park land on the river that George Shryock dedicated to the city in 1993. Shryock maintains his agreement with the city stipulated the land be kept in its natural state because of its fragile ecosystem.

City Council members looked at the park land after the issue was raised.

THE ASPEN Group plans to submit development plans for the property sometime this spring or summer and has been hamstrung by the right-of-way issue, said Greg Stratton, the Aspen Group's Montana vice president.

"It's tough for us to move forward and plan the property without knowing if the road is going to be there," Stratton said.

Now that the city has decided to stick by its transportation plan, Stratton said Aspen Group representatives will meet with hospital officials and "come up with a plan."

City Council member Cris Coughlin said east-west corridors are crucial for Whitefish and should be kept in the plan.

"I don't want to throw any options out the window," she said.

The city has just embarked on a citywide transportation plan that will study all areas of Whitefish. The plan containing the 13th Street alternative studies only Southeast Whitefish.

"For us to pull 13th out, without taking a look at the transportation plan as a whole wouldn't be smart planning," Mayor Andy Feury said. "We have to look at the bigger and broader picture."

Feury pointed out that many right-of-way easements in the county have been around for 80 or 90 years. To not identify all possible rights of way for Whitefish, especially much-needed east-west connectors, would be irresponsible, he said.

"The reality is the only thing affected by the 13th Street right of way is the money in their [North Valley Hospital's] pocket," Feury said.

Features editor Lynnette Hintze may be reached at 758-4421 or by e-mail at lhintze@dailyinterlake.com