Doctors and patience
Three problematic sites offer no fast answers to Pasadena’s urgent care needs
By André Coleman , Joe Piasecki 11/13/2008
Nearly a year after the sale of the former St. Luke Medical Center property to developers, city officials seem no closer to establishing an urgent care center that would give East Pasadena residents better access to immediate medical treatment and relieve overcrowding of Huntington Hospital’s emergency room.
Although the St. Luke location is not completely out of the picture, the property is now the subject of a residential development proposal and land use issues that could take years to resolve.
City-owned land in the 3100 block of East Del Mar Boulevard, just south of the Foothill (210) Freeway — until now the favored location of city officials — was recently found to have soil stability issues that could present numerous challenges in building a medical facility there.
Decades ago, the East Del Mar site was filled in with unstable dirt when it belonged to Southern California Edison, said Public Works Director Martin Pastucha. A landfill was once located a few blocks to the north on the same strip of land, just below Colorado Boulevard, but does not appear to be toxic and would have no impact on the site’s suitability for urgent care, he said.
A third location being considered — a building at 40 N. Altadena Drive, just above Colorado Boulevard — would cost the city $1 million more than previously estimated to adapt the structure for medical use, largely because the location of walls and offices would have to be changed.
What all of this means: more waiting.
“No prospective site can be taken off the table until we have made a final decision on the location,” said Mayor Bill Bogaard.
The city holds a $500,000 federal grant to fund a clinic that would be run by the Huntington Foundation, a medical group affiliated with Huntington Hospital.
Although the East Del Mar site was identified by former City Manager Cynthia Kurtz as the most likely location for that urgent care clinic, which would serve patients with immediate needs that don’t require visiting a trauma center, city officials are keeping alternate sites, such as St. Luke, under consideration throughout the process.
The St. Luke option came into play after a citizens’ group known as Urgent Care Now! collected more than 4,000 signatures calling for the use of St. Luke as an urgent care center, opposing the 7.2-acre East Del Mar site as less convenient to residents living north of the freeway and pointing out potential traffic-flow drawbacks.
Because of its proximity to Eaton Blanche Park, Willard Elementary School and Wilson Middle School, an urgent care center would only increase foot and auto traffic in a neighborhood where many children are present, said Eaton Blanche Neighborhood Association President and former City Council candidate Gene Masuda, who also expressed concerns about potential soil contamination.
Councilman Steve Haderlein, who represents the area and defeated Masuda last year, said soil tests performed at the site have not uncovered any toxins. “People who don’t want the site there have started the rumors that we would be placing a medical facility on top of toxic land. That’s not the case,” he said.
The traffic concerns of Emergency Care Now! have caught the ears of City Councilwoman Margaret McAustin, however.
“Putting that type of commercial use in a neighborhood with parks doesn’t make as much sense as it would to put the urgent care in a commercially developed area,” she said.
Bogaard remains optimistic about the feasibility of the East Del Mar site.
“I believe it is highly suitable,” he said. “Traffic generated by an urgent care facility is dramatically different from an emergency care facility, there being no sirens or fast-moving vehicles.”
The 13.4-acre St. Luke Medical Center site on East Washington Boulevard near Altadena Drive was once owned by Tenet Healthcare, then Caltech, and now by Beverly Hills-based developers DS Ventures, which has submitted plans to build 356 residential units there, said DS spokesman Nat Read.
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