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Adventist hospital seeks new plan

Hazelwood residents call for renovation of pedestrian path

Lee Perlman
The MID-COUNTY MEMO

As Portland Adventist Hospital seeks to update its master plan, some of its neighbors want to make sure it stays true to the right path.

As hospital spokesperson Tom Russell told the Hazelwood Neighborhood Association last month, the hospital’s current conditional use master plan has expired. They are in need of changes and new facilities for an aging population that extends from Camas, Wash. to Oregon City, he said. For one thing, their existing emergency room is currently so over-taxed that it is often necessary to “divert” critically ill or injured people somewhere else.

Another issue is that Metro is considering a possible new light rail line along I-205, with a station at Southeast Main Street. “That’s good in terms of access, but it could be a challenge in terms of traffic” on Main, the hospital’s main access street, Russell said.

Plans so far call for new imaging, oncology and primary care facilities, an expansion of emergency facilities, a new parking structure on the site of their existing helipad, and a pedestrian tunnel under Southeast Main Street connecting a medical office building to the rest of the campus. “If any of you has tried to cross Main lately, you know it’s not much fun,” he told those present.

Another feature is the hospital’s legal obligation to provide pedestrian access through its grounds between Southeast Main and Market streets for the general public, which Russell said was “a challenge.” The hospital is looking at a trail that meanders through the campus west of Southeast 104th Street.

This produced strong reactions from several people present calling for preservation of an old path near Southeast 106th Avenue. Longtime activist Anne Picco told Russell, “I’m not comfortable with your comment about ‘deciding’ where to put the path.” The existing path is required by their existing master plan, she said. “How ideal it would be, on a 40-acre campus, to have more access and connections, with better lighting and signage,” she said.

Sharon Owen said, “The idea of having a central access is a good one, but with the large buildings it would have to go through it’s not very attractive.”

Hazelwood president Arlene Kimura said that for many of the people who use the existing path, getting to the proposed route would be “a big stretch if you’re not in good health.”

One man said, “I’m concerned about the permanence of that (existing) path. It’s there, but it’s obviously temporary. You can trip on it, it looks shoddy, and the sprinklers cross the path. Put in some landscaping and make it look nice.”

Board member Gayland German told Russell, “It’s in your best interest to restore that path before you set forth on a new venture.”

“I’m hearing that message loud and clear,” Russell replied.
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