Ten Years. A Full Decade. What?

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Mark Kindt
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Ten Years. A Full Decade. What?

Postby Mark Kindt » Thu Sep 09, 2021 8:40 am

Post-Hospital Planning -- A Full Ten Years

I read this week in the press (Washington Post) that the Covid-19 burden on U.S. hospitals is now more than it was a year ago at this time. One hospital is not affected at all -- Lakewood Hospital -- it's gone.

--Sure this is a trite observation--

I make it only to frame the following thoughts:

As I type this, I have no idea of what might go into the empty hole at the intersection of Detroit and Belle, but I do know that the Lakewood Planning Department has been engaged in post-hospital planning for the past 10 years, at least. (Many of the relevant plans and renderings are posted on this forum).

I think we can safely conclude a couple of points:

An existing medical office building was demolished and replaced by a new medical office building. And, that's about it.

My primary comment about the new medical office building is also trite. It is an architectural contradiction to anything else built in Lakewood.

After 10 years of public planning by urban planning professionals, how did we wind-up with nothing but an odd-ball office building and an empty hole?


Dan Alaimo
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Re: Ten Years. A Full Decade. What?

Postby Dan Alaimo » Thu Sep 09, 2021 6:03 pm

Mark Kindt wrote:Post-Hospital Planning -- A Full Ten Years

I read this week in the press (Washington Post) that the Covid-19 burden on U.S. hospitals is now more than it was a year ago at this time. One hospital is not affected at all -- Lakewood Hospital -- it's gone.

--Sure this is a trite observation--

I make it only to frame the following thoughts:

As I type this, I have no idea of what might go into the empty hole at the intersection of Detroit and Belle, but I do know that the Lakewood Planning Department has been engaged in post-hospital planning for the past 10 years, at least. (Many of the relevant plans and renderings are posted on this forum).

I think we can safely conclude a couple of points:

An existing medical office building was demolished and replaced by a new medical office building. And, that's about it.

My primary comment about the new medical office building is also trite. It is an architectural contradiction to anything else built in Lakewood.

After 10 years of public planning by urban planning professionals, how did we wind-up with nothing but an odd-ball office building and an empty hole?

Also let's note that the new office building contains physicians of only one of the area's three major medical systems, and does little good for those who regularly use the other two systems. And there was some sort of non-compete clause with that one system agreed to by the previous administration.


“Never let a good crisis go to waste." - Winston Churchill (Quote later appropriated by Rahm Emanuel)
Mark Kindt
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Re: Ten Years. A Full Decade. What?

Postby Mark Kindt » Fri Sep 10, 2021 8:40 am

How Could So Much Public Planning Yield So Little?

Post-hospital planning has been underway for a decade and there are no discernable public plans to expand healthcare services to Lakewood residents despite a $50,000 study (May 2018) by a panel of medical experts who identified a multi-dimensional and public need for such expansion.

This report was written with the full understanding that Lakewood residents and the broader community had just lost approximately $7,000,000 annually in needed and valued charity care.

After 4 years, that shortfall in charity care is now about $28,000,000 and how and whether it was actually provided by the other three health systems cannot be quantified by those who lost access to it.

But, nonetheless, it is a measureable loss that was understood by the Lakewood planners.


Meg Ostrowski
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Re: Ten Years. A Full Decade. What?

Postby Meg Ostrowski » Fri Sep 10, 2021 2:31 pm

Has it really been that long?!

Locals have gone from having visions of a Belle-agio style mixed use complex to embracing the hole-spital. There's even a SAVE THE PIT flag wavering close by!

Personally, I'd still like to see BUILD LAKEWOOD supporters and SAVE LAKEWOOD HOSPITAL folks come together to REBUILD LAKEWOOD HOSPITAL.

I know many remain resentful of the Cleveland Clinic's role in the demise of our community asset and believe they are undeserving of their hold on the land for use by other medical providers, but I have to believe there's a way forward to get this done. And healthcare may be changing but it ain't going anywhere.


“There could be anywhere from 1 to over 50,000 Lakewoods at any time. I’m good with any of those numbers, as long as it’s just not 2 Lakewoods.” -Stephen Davis
Mark Kindt
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Re: Ten Years. A Full Decade. What?

Postby Mark Kindt » Fri Sep 10, 2021 3:28 pm

The early plans that show a missing and demolished Lakewood Hospital are dated 2012.

It required expensive litigation just to pry even that information loose. Images from these plans were posted on the Deck a few years back.

Planning Directors came and went and the post-hospital planning continued and still continues. We are at least ten years in on that now.

Should I still be alive a decade from now, I will update this post and let you know what happened between 2022 and 2031 at Detroit and Belle.

If this was all a success it should be acknowledged; if not then it should all be re-examined in an open, convivial, thoughtful way and a path-forward should be crafted that has some reasonable and rational relationship with the needs of Lakewood as a community of residents, employees, and visitors.

If there are additional environmental problems they should be honestly surfaced and addressed.


Mark Kindt
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Re: Ten Years. A Full Decade. What?

Postby Mark Kindt » Sat Sep 11, 2021 9:07 am

Expect No Quick Fix

Many sites that have severe environmental contamination are redeveloped successfully; the former hospital site will eventually get there too. It will take time and money. Perhaps, lots of both.

The current Lakewood city administration inherited a major environmental problem that already had a multi-million dollar price tag for the city yet also seems to have inherited a recalcitrant or obstructive developer already under contract.

Filing the empty hole at the intersection of Detroit and Belle is going to take a long time and Mayor George should not be criticized for inaction.

Even where environmental remediation has been completed; developing a formerly contaminated site like the Lakewood Hospital site presents a complex and expensive series of tasks that need to be addressed thoroughly and professionally.

The first developer under contract could not or would not do so.

Buying out that contract basically ended the first decade of post-hospital planning for the planning department.

We will all have to take the long view on all of this.

The current and possibly ongoing pandemic conditions will shape and reshape the redevelopment possibilities.


Bill Call
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Re: Ten Years. A Full Decade. What?

Postby Bill Call » Sat Sep 11, 2021 10:43 am

Mark Kindt wrote:The early plans that show a missing and demolished Lakewood Hospital are dated 2012.
...


If there are additional environmental problems they should be honestly surfaced and addressed.


Honestly?

Good luck with that.


Dan Alaimo
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Re: Ten Years. A Full Decade. What?

Postby Dan Alaimo » Sat Sep 11, 2021 3:20 pm

Bill Call wrote:
Mark Kindt wrote:The early plans that show a missing and demolished Lakewood Hospital are dated 2012.
...


If there are additional environmental problems they should be honestly surfaced and addressed.


Honestly?

Good luck with that.


I'm sorry to keep repeating myself. I understand the lack of willingness to investigate, as well as the possible lack of legal grounds to prosecute, but doesn't anybody want to get to the bottom of how this happened and who was responsible? If nothing else, perhaps City Council could censure them, or pass a resolution prohibiting them from holding public office in Lakewood again. Why not?


“Never let a good crisis go to waste." - Winston Churchill (Quote later appropriated by Rahm Emanuel)
Mark Kindt
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Re: Ten Years. A Full Decade. What?

Postby Mark Kindt » Sun Sep 12, 2021 10:06 am

Bill Call wrote:
Mark Kindt wrote:The early plans that show a missing and demolished Lakewood Hospital are dated 2012.
...


If there are additional environmental problems they should be honestly surfaced and addressed.


Honestly?

Good luck with that.


Bill, I do not know any specifics, but the clean-up costs surpassed by millions many of the environmental clean-ups that I work on professionally. This was a serious and expensive problem. It will have a tail that will require management either by the City or the contracted developer.

The proposed use will make a difference with respect to how remaining environmental risks will be managed.

Clean-ups are never ever really done and the physical dynamics at a site continue to evolve over time and use. A severe storm can mobilize remaining contaminants into pathways that were viewed as remediated.

There may be complex indemnification issues between the City and its future developer(s).

Post-hospital planning for redevelopment now has a life of its own and we are a good ten years in already.


Dan Alaimo
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Re: Ten Years. A Full Decade. What?

Postby Dan Alaimo » Sun Sep 12, 2021 3:18 pm

Mark Kindt wrote:
Bill Call wrote:
Mark Kindt wrote:The early plans that show a missing and demolished Lakewood Hospital are dated 2012.
...


If there are additional environmental problems they should be honestly surfaced and addressed.


Honestly?

Good luck with that.


Bill, I do not know any specifics, but the clean-up costs surpassed by millions many of the environmental clean-ups that I work on professionally. This was a serious and expensive problem. It will have a tail that will require management either by the City or the contracted developer.

The proposed use will make a difference with respect to how remaining environmental risks will be managed.

Clean-ups are never ever really done and the physical dynamics at a site continue to evolve over time and use. A severe storm can mobilize remaining contaminants into pathways that were viewed as remediated.

There may be complex indemnification issues between the City and its future developer(s).

Post-hospital planning for redevelopment now has a life of its own and we are a good ten years in already.


Point nicely made, Mark. I didn't know all that. Would the problem have surfaced if they had left the hospital building standing?


“Never let a good crisis go to waste." - Winston Churchill (Quote later appropriated by Rahm Emanuel)
Mark Kindt
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Re: Ten Years. A Full Decade. What?

Postby Mark Kindt » Mon Sep 13, 2021 11:57 am

Dan, it is hard to speculate on your question.

Ten years or so ago, there was a rush to tear down the hospital and build something else like a community recreation center in its place. Jim, has the 411 on all that.

The demolition reflected in the 2012 planning would have opened up the same environmental issues that arose in 2018 and 2019.

There seems to always have been enough money, if not interest, to update and upgrade the hospital. That had about a $90M cost.

The risk of vapor intrusion from VOCs could have been addressed as part of that upgrade.

The subsequent history of the demolition of Lakewood Hospital probably generates another supporting rationale for the acceptance of the offer from Metro Health System to take over the hospital and conduct the update and upgrade.

All water over the dam.


Dan Alaimo
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Re: Ten Years. A Full Decade. What?

Postby Dan Alaimo » Mon Sep 13, 2021 6:25 pm

Dismissing Metro's offer was always the most serious act of malfeasance in this long saga.

Time is going by and perhaps the City should re-approach the other major healthcare players in the area. At the time, Metro was planning a massive reconstruction/renovation which is now well underway. Things might have changed. They've been burned by Lakewood so don't expect them to come back voluntarily.


“Never let a good crisis go to waste." - Winston Churchill (Quote later appropriated by Rahm Emanuel)
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Jim O'Bryan
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Re: Ten Years. A Full Decade. What?

Postby Jim O'Bryan » Tue Sep 14, 2021 7:10 pm

Dan Alaimo wrote:Dismissing Metro's offer was always the most serious act of malfeasance in this long saga.

Time is going by and perhaps the City should re-approach the other major healthcare players in the area. At the time, Metro was planning a massive reconstruction/renovation which is now well underway. Things might have changed. They've been burned by Lakewood so don't expect them to come back voluntarily.



I beg to differ, the whole thing was a huge cluster f%&% to the residents of Lakewood. From the first meeting until this election, Lakewood has been getting screwed by the same handful of people. Metro being refused was bad, but so was everything else.

.


Jim O'Bryan
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cmager
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Re: Ten Years. A Full Decade. What?

Postby cmager » Wed Sep 15, 2021 1:48 am

Jim O'Bryan wrote:
Dan Alaimo wrote:Dismissing Metro's offer was always the most serious act of malfeasance in this long saga.
Time is going by and perhaps the City should re-approach the other major healthcare players in the area. At the time, Metro was planning a massive reconstruction/renovation which is now well underway. Things might have changed. They've been burned by Lakewood so don't expect them to come back voluntarily.

I beg to differ, the whole thing was a huge cluster f%&% to the residents of Lakewood. From the first meeting until this election, Lakewood has been getting screwed by the same handful of people. Metro being refused was bad, but so was everything else.
.

Sunlight is the best disinfectant. Name the nameless. Shame the shameless.


Mark Kindt
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Re: Ten Years. A Full Decade. What?

Postby Mark Kindt » Thu Sep 16, 2021 9:14 am

The Key Impediment To Development Is Obvious!

The City of Lakewood made the decision to enter into a non-competition covenant agreement for its former hospital site.

This is the primary impediment to the successful future redevelopment to that site for a future purpose to benefit the public.

This is a significant roadblock to future planning and it was, of course, part of the 10 years worth of prior post-hospital planning by the City.

The City of Lakewood is prohibited from developing its current "Empty Hole" for any optimal use based upon its own prior planning.

Each candidate for elective office or existing council members, especially the lawyers, should be brainstorming on how this road block can be eliminated.



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