NORTH OKALOOSA MEDICAL CENTER (CRESTVIEW) EXPLANDING AND BRINGING JOBS

Jobs, Jobs, Jobs; It not only the Army coming to town.


North Okaloosa Medical Center requests $150K impact fee waiver
Brian Hughes brianh@crestviewbulletin.com
2010-01-15 16:43:37

At the Crestview City Council’s Monday night meeting, North Okaloosa Medical Center CEO David Sanders asked the body to waive impact fees as the local hospital prepares to construct a 40-bed “patient tower.”
Sanders said the planned $18.2-million project will take 13 months to complete, and will provide 204 construction jobs while it is being built. Upon completion, the new facility will have a $1.2 million annual payroll impact on the community with 27 new jobs, Sanders said. Currently the hospital has a $32 million annual payroll, he said.
“There will be new construction jobs created for this community and new sales taxes raised,” Sanders said in his address to the council. “The project will enhance access to patient care and clinical services for the citizens of Crestview and the surrounding area.”
Sanders emphasized, “We’re not requesting a reduction of taxes we pay to the city of Crestview.”
However, the hospital feels that the city’s requirement for more than $150,000 in impact fees is excessive, Sanders said.
Under the recently implemented new fee structure, impact fees would include $37,000 for water, $107,000 for sewer, and $8,000 for public safety, Sanders stated.
Council members seemed eager to work with Sanders to address his request. Councilman Charles Baugh Jr. asked city attorney Ben Holley if there was provision in the city impact-fee ordinance to waive implementation of the fees under special circumstances.
“There is no provision in any of our ordinances to reduce public impact fees,” Holley replied. “If you waive it for one, you’d have to waive it for everyone.”
When council President Bob Allen asked Holley if he had any advice on how to go about waiving it, the attorney replied, “not at this point.”
After the council moved on to other matters without further discussion on the request, the topic came up again during the public input period at the meeting’s conclusion.
“I feel a little disappointed in y’all,” said Tom Moody, a member of the hospital’s board of trustees, who felt the city attorney “didn’t give them much opportunity to think it over.”
Noting the city’s hospital is a public service and not like a “bunch of developers” wanting to build a housing development, Moody reminded the council “I don’t think it’s like everything else, and I do think if you wanted to do it [waive the impact fees] you could find a way…. I think there are ways to trying to do this. You are smart people, much smarter than I am. I would expect you to reconsider this thing and come through for us.”
Baugh asked Sanders if not waiving the fees was a “deal breaker.”
“It will cause us to reconsider the timeline,” Sanders said.
“Our city has several jewels that make the city what it is. Our hospital is one of them,” Baugh said, leaving the hospital’s representatives hopeful that their request was not dead on arrival.
In other matters:
Also at its recent meeting, the Crestview City Council:
• Approved the Spanish Trail Cruisers Club request to block off Main Street and receive city services for its annual car show on April 17.
• Updated the library materials selection process policy, bringing it in line with American Library Association recommendations and providing for an appeal mechanism when a book challenge is upheld.
• Scheduled a Feb. 17 workshop to discuss revisions to the city’s sign ordinance and its Joint Land Use Study.
• Approved the Public Services department’s request to pursue an Energy Efficiency & Conservation block grant available under the American Recovery & Reinvestment Act.
• Received a report from Mayor David Cadle on the reorganization of the Crestview Police Department. “We’ve moved some folks around,” explained Cadle.