WILLMAR -- The location of the former KindleHope residential facility for developmentally disabled persons in southeast Willmar is now the preferred site for a 16-bed psychiatric hospital.
The Minnesota Department of Human Services prefers the KindleHope site after state and local officials looked at more than 20 sites, including the KindleHope site, during the last three weeks, according to Bruce Peterson, director of planning and economic development for the city of Willmar. Peterson said he, an architect from the state, and Steve Renquist and Kathy Schwantes of the Kandiyohi County and City of Willmar Economic Development Commission sp-ent much time logging the pros and cons of sites.
"The last time the state was out, they brought with them an architect that had worked on similar facilities for them to look at these sites,'' said Peterson.
"They took the information back. The state then came back to the EDC this last week and said here is our preferred site, and it was the KindleHope site.''
Officials hope the site, which is south of Willmar Avenue and east of Fifth Street Southeast, will be less controversial than the initial site located next to the city's outdoor athletic fields on Willmar Avenue Southwest.
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The initial site was rejected after the city's Community Education and Recreation Advisory Board recommended against it.
One reason the KindleHope site was preferred is that it affects the fewest number of residential people, said Renquist, Economic Development Commission executive director.
He hopes owners of two homes near the KindleHope site will be supportive.
"There was hardly anywhere that we looked at that (wasn't) in proximity to some residential areas,'' he said.
Renquist hopes the commission can negotiate a purchase agreement with KindleHope site owners Jeff and Sue Danielson of Willmar. Renquist said he'll try to call a special meeting of the commission's Operations and Governing Board to discuss price and terms.
Renquist said the site is located near Woodland Centers where regional mental health services have been provided for many years. Also, the site provides access off Willmar Avenue and the Highway 71/23 bypass.
The psychiatric hospital, estimated at $4 million, would be owned by the Economic Development Commission and operated by the state, which wants the hospital to open next spring. The new hospital will replace beds that will be lost as the state closes most of its programs at the Willmar Regional Treatment Center in upcoming months.
The city will begin the process of enacting a zoning change that will allow construction of the hospital. Wednesday night, the Planning Commission voted to hold a public hearing on Nov. 8 to consider changing the site's zoning from medium-density residential to limited business, which allows professional uses that do not generate much traffic or activity.
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Peterson said he wasn't certain the rezoning was needed, but he recommended it anyway to eliminate confusion and questions. "We think that it could be classified as a 16-bed licensed facility, which by statute is allowed in a multifamily district,'' he said.
If the Planning Commission approves the rezoning, it will then go to the City Council for the required ordinance, said Peterson.
