Officials wait and see on state hospital.

Byline: Jack Moran The Register-Guard

A few local officials say they aren't ready to roll out the welcome mat and embrace the possibility of having a 1,100-employee state psychiatric hospital built in Lane County.

Three of the 10 properties in Southwestern Oregon being eyed by the state for a new 360-bed hospital are inside the county. Two parcels of interest are privately owned farmland tracts north of Springfield near Interstate 5, while the other is state-owned land in Junction City.

While the possibility of bringing more than 1,000 new jobs to the area may be enticing, local officials say other factors also must be considered.

"There's more to life than somebody dangling hundreds of jobs in front of you," said Lane County Commissioner Bill Dwyer, adding that he probably wouldn't support building the state hospital on the Springfield area properties, both of which have been farmed for decades, are zoned for agriculture and are situated outside the Eugene-Springfield urban growth boundary.

"That is some of the finest farmland with the best soils that you could possibly find," Dwyer said. "My first impression is that when you start to talk about expanding the urban growth boundary, you need to think about things like preserving the more productive soil types."

Springfield Mayor Sid Leiken said it's far too early in the process to begin thinking about possibly lobbying the state to pursue construction on one of the parcels north of the city.

"Just because they've announced a list of potential sites doesn't mean they're close to a final decision," Leiken said. "We're going to take a hands-off approach until more information comes in."

Besides the Lane County properties, the state Department of Administrative Services is evaluating five sites in Jackson County, one east of Roseburg and one in Coquille as possible locations for the regional mental hospital.

"If it gets down to the final three (sites), that would be when we'd start making some decisions" about whether to support a plan to build a hospital on the Springfield-area properties, Leiken said.

State officials announced last year their intention to replace the dilapidated Oregon State Hospital in Salem with two new facilities, one in southwestern Oregon, the other in the northern Willamette Valley between Salem and Portland.

For the Lane County sites, the Junction City property may pose the fewest obstacles for the state, which already owns the 242-acre parcel south of the city. The state has been planning for a decade to build a prison on the land, but has delayed taking action.

Junction City Mayor Larry Crowley said he's hoping the state does something with the property soon.

"It's their call," Crowley said. "We're just waiting to hear from them and hoping that when we do, they'll be ready to have their checkbooks open."

Leiken expressed similar sentiments about the possibility of having a large-scale mental facility built in the metro area.

With any of the three Lane County sites, a big state hospital would put a significant strain on local roads and sewage treatment.

"If the state is serious about this, they'd better be prepared to pony up some serious money for infrastructure costs," Leiken said.

Bringing the Springfield area properties into the urban-growth boundary would require an amendment to the Eugene-Springfield Metropolitan Area General Plan. That would require approval from the city councils in Eugene and Springfield, plus the county board of commissioners.

Eugene Mayor Kitty Piercy said it's premature to talk about whether she could support expanding the growth boundary to accommodate a state mental facility, although she said she is conceptually in favor of improving mental-health services offered in the community.

"That makes me want to look into this some more," Piercy said. "But we'd need to balance that by also looking at the land use issues involved here."

County Commissioner Faye Stewart sees multiple benefits in having a psychiatric hospital in the area, and hopes local officials keep an open mind as the state process unfolds.

"I think we should leave the door open and assist (the state) in any way possible, knowing that we have a process to go through here that requires the approval of all of our (metro plan) partners," Stewart said.