St. Ignace City Planners Satisfied With New Mackinac Straits Hospital Site Plan
By Karen Gould

At right: This preliminary site plan of the new hospital complex to be built on State Street near the Mackinac County Airport was presented to St. Ignace planning commissioners Wednesday, March 26. It was drawn in February. (URS Corporation, Grand Rapids)

St. Ignace planning commissioners reviewed the new hospital site plan on 16.2 acres near the Mackinac County Airport during their Wednesday, March 27 meeting. While the commission is not required to approve site plans for the public building, the meeting was designed to keep commissioners informed and provided an opportunity to have any questions addressed. Commissioners say they were satisfied with the presentation given by project manager Greg Koenig and view the proposed hospital as a positive addition to the community.

Mr. Koenig, an architect with URS Corporation in Grand Rapids, was joined by hospital CEO Rod Nelson, who gave an overview of the hospital authority's plans for the election and its view on use of the $1.3 million bond debt and the disposition of its Burdette Street hospital property.

The goal is to begin construction this summer, he said, with the project taking about 18 months. The hospital plans to open between January and April 2010.

"Some components may be finished before others," he said.

Meetings have been held with city leaders, including the city manager, fire chief, building inspector, and public works director to make sure all are comfortable with the hospital plans.

In planning the site, Mr. Koenig said, architects designed the facility to take advantage of views of Lake Huron, placing inpatient beds near the front of the structure and hospital services toward the rear of the building.

The sloping site falls about 28 feet from rear to front, which allows long term care, a single story wood frame building, to be level with the second floor of the medical office building. The medical building, said Mr. Koenig, will be of steel and masonry construction. A connecting corridor between the two buildings will make it easy for long term care residents to visit physicians.

The site will offer 250 parking spaces, with patient parking near the front entrance and staff parking and entrance at the back of the structure.

Ambulances will arrive using the State Street entrance. Alpine Street, which now is a dead end, runs behind the juvenile detention facility. Eventually, hospital planners hope the road will be finished and could be used as an ambulance entrance.

Commission Chair Art Underwood said that City Building Inspector Paul Sved, who did not attend the meeting, had indicated the hospital plans were in conformance with city requirements.

"Over the last six months or so," said Mr. Underwood of the new hospital, "I've come to appreciate the value of what we do have and to have a greater understanding of what this attention could mean to this community."

Upon reviewing the plan, Mr. Underwood expressed concern for truck deliveries with only one main entrance off State Street.

Trucks can maneuver to the shipping and receiving doors in the rear of the building, said Mr. Koenig. The hospital is working with the county and the Federal Aviation Administration to secure an easement allowing access to the hospital along Airport Road.

Road improvements, said Mr. Underwood, would be required to handle truck traffic.

Spring frost laws, which create load restrictions, would be an additional issue for hospital planners to address, said Bill Fraser of the Department of Public Works.

"It's not in good shape," he said of the road.

Airport Manager Paul Fullerton agreed, and said planning to improve the deteriorated road should begin now.

The city will work with the hospital to look for grant money for the infrastructure improvements needed on the roadway, City Manager Eric Dodson said.

Over the last few weeks, Mr. Koenig said engineers have been studying traffic to determine if a left turn lane is needed for northbound traffic. The Michigan Department of Transportation (MDOT) already has indicated traffic volumes will be low enough not to require the lane, although a right turn lane will be constructed at the entrance.

A retention pond designed to border State Street raised concerns for commissioners. The primary purpose of the pond, said Mr. Koenig, is to collect storm runoff. URS is working with MDOT and the Michigan Department of Natural Resources, he said, and should have more information in the next few weeks.

"It's not intended to be a pond that contains water year around," he said. "It's only intended to be a retention basin for storm events, and allow controlled discharge into the MDOT storm sewer system."

More room may be required for snow removal, planning commissioner Steve Paquin suggested. Mr. Koenig said removal zones have been established and architects are looking into clearing more land to provide more space for snow.

Mayor Paul Grondin asked Mr. Nelson to provide commissioners with an overview of hospital projects, including the May 6 election, which calls for a vote on the asset transfer agreement of the hospital authority to a private corporation. Passage of the transfer agreement at the election, said Mr. Nelson, would move responsibility for the hospital from the four authority entities consisting of the City of St. Ignace, and St. Ignace, Moran, and Brevort townships, to the private corporation.

"The four entities assume total responsibility right now for the hospital," he said. "If anything were to happen, that issue falls on those four entities, not the county."

The hospital always has struggled financially, he said. The new hospital will be financed by $10 million in United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) direct loans and $26.8 million in guaranteed USDA Rural Development loans. At the recommendation of the USDA, Mr. Nelson said, a portion of the loans are with ArborOne Financial through the Farm Credit Association in South Carolina.

A June 4 closing of the bonds is anticipated, said Mr. Nelson, if the ballot proposal is passed in the election, the completion of the final site plan is presented, and a guaranteed maximum building price is submitted by the construction management company, Skanska USA Building, Inc. of Southfield.

An issue, he said, still remains with the land. The Sault Ste. Marie Tribe of Chippewa Indians purchased the land in the 1980s. The land was deeded to the hospital. Language in an 1834 statute requires that U.S. Congress approve the deed transfer. Attorney Prentiss "Moie" Brown, Congressman Bart Stupak, and the tribe are working on the issue and expect to have it resolved in May.

If the election is approved and all the steps are finalized, said Mr. Nelson, some construction could begin this summer. If the election fails, then the funding will not be available to build the hospital.

"That's why you'll see us be very proactive in April," he said, "to make sure this election goes forward."

Bonds were issued in 1994, said Mr. Nelson, to pay for construction at the Long Term Care facility. The county owns the building and property. The hospital makes bond payments of from $140,000 to $200,000 a year on the bond, he said.

"A long as we are there," said Mr. Nelson, "that's our moral obligation." While Mr. Nelson told planning commissioners Wednesday that the hospital's stand on ongoing bond payments at the Burdette Street site was that it would continue to pay the bond if the property and building were deeded to the hospital, information that came to light the next day changed the hospital's position on the issue. A 2002 amendment to the lease between the county and hospital stipulates the bond payment is the responsibility of the hospital until 2014; this information was presented at the county commission meeting Thursday.

Residents, said Mr. Underwood at the planning commission meeting, have indicated that they would like to see the Burdette Street building become a community college.

"People have continued to say," he said, "that is one thing our community lacks."

Cheryl Schlehuber, president of the St. Ignace Chamber of Commerce, attended the meeting and said the chamber supports the hospital project 100%.

"This hospital project is going to turn around this whole area. We look at it as a light at the end of the tunnel and the beginning of prosperity for the area. It's going to take awhile, but it will happen. It will bring growth. It will bring jobs," Mrs. Schlehuber said.