Management at West Valley Hospital is putting a full court press on Team Garrett to hand over hole #3 on Fairview Golf Course for a hospital expansion project. THE GUARDIAN was amazed at the response from Mayor Nancolas and city council for not getting to the point and telling the good people at the hospital an emphatic NO WAY! to this request. Now it is another media event.
Fairview golf course is a community asset and unique geographic feature of Caldwell. It is not something to hand over to West Valley for development. It was overheard the WV administrator said the hospital taking over that portion of the golf course would make the course "better". The reality is it would not make the course better nor would it make the hospital expansion issues go away. West Valley is developed on all sides except the South side and that property is for sale but they don't want to pay the asking price. A local dentist owns the property in question.
The real problem is previous hospital administrations gave no consideration to future expansion issues. Now they want the citizens of Caldwell to give up a valuable community and public asset. West Valley has taken to strong-arm tactics with the Mayor and City Council over this claiming their status as the largest employer in the City of Caldwell and they deserve this concession. (Think Urban Renewal giveaways here)
The reality is they need to take a good hard look at what St. Luke's did in Boise. They need to pony up for the property on the south side of the hospital and start going upward with more floors in their hospital operation and build a parking garage. Destroying Fairview golf course is a slap in the face to all Caldwell citizens.
Here's the link to the IPT story in today's paper:
http://www.idahopress.com/news/local/west-valley-medical-center-approaches-mayor-about-expanding-onto-golf/article_d86838fe-522f-11e1-a0dd-0019bb2963f4.html
Here's another link to city email accounts for Caldwell City Councilors:
http://city.cityofcaldwell.com/page/172823/
Reminds me of the time in Nampa a few years back when the Nampa School District wanted to put a school in Lakeview Park. Doesn't Senator McGee work for this hospitol too? Contact him also
ReplyDeleteWe can all wait for the spin on this from the Mayor but the bottom line is this is nothing more than a poke in eye for everyone in Caldwell. Surely, they can't be serious about this request from the hospital, did they think this was going to be welcomed by the community?
ReplyDeleteThanks to West Valley, the Mayor and City Council have submitted to a test to see if they are capable of thought. No easy way out of this one without some serious political fallout. Once you step in it you generally have to take off your old shoe off to clean it all the while looking stupid standing on one foot.
ReplyDeleteFairview is part of the cultural heritage of Caldwell and one of the oldest public courses in Idaho. It provides a breathtaking open green spot in Old Caldwell. How dare the hospital even think of expanding there. If Nancolas and crew lets this happen I will be the first in line to mobilize the voters to end their political careers.
ReplyDeleteWhen I saw that in the newspaper I broke out in a fume of fury. I know, every medical entity is growing into a giant, but we don’t have to sacrifice our city’s public golf course for that. If it’s too costly to build where the golf course isn’t, then maybe they don’t have enough money to grow.
ReplyDeleteI don’t play golf, but that golf course is a treasure. I’ve thoroughly enjoyed seeing golfers on the course just about every day this winter so far, sometimes even when the sun isn’t shining. Your note is 100% on. I will send a message or two up the ladder myself. Hospital people can be so righteous. And our mayor, who loves nothing more than being loved, is subject to their wooing.
Nancolas is "Looking for Love in All the Wrong Places". Lets hope he finds it.
ReplyDeleteWVMC needs to buy up old down Caldwell and do the expansion between the UPRR tracks and Indian Creek. Win Win for all! The mayor will be seen as a genius instead of a pea brain!
ReplyDeleteI have heard it from two different sources there is a deed restriction on the Fairview Golf Course property. I am not sure how to do this as a property search but have started down the path on this issue. The essence of the restriction is the property remain as a golf course/open space for future generations...
ReplyDeleteApparently, the title goes back to around 1910 give or take a few years. If any Guardian readers can help please contact me.
Paul
I did a records search today and go copies of the deeds and there are no deed restrictions noted on the land deeds.
Deletepaul
This has been a great Caldwell history lesson. The property was "patented" in 1891 by Henry Dorman and sold to Harold Seabree around 1905. City of Caldwell got the property via a tax deed from Canyon County (west side of 10th Ave. 1934/35 and the Fairview Golf Course was put in with WPA funds 1937/38.
DeleteWPA funds were administered by Joe Miller who also authorized funds for the "Stock Trail" over by the current County Fairground to get cattle to the slaughter houses on Chicago Street back in the day.
"Don't it always seem to go.....
ReplyDeletethat they don't know what they've got 'til it's gone.....
They paved Paradise,....and put up a parking lot!"
HECK NO, NOT NOW,.....NOT EVER!
Boy, have I ever had it with the greedy medical community, Caldwell city govenment, Obama, McGee, and all the other "public service" thugs!
ReplyDeleteIf there is a deed restriction it could be a stand alone document with a unique instrument number. Could be difficult to track down given the way the county search engine works.
ReplyDeleteThis entire scare over the 3rd hole was just HCA's (WVMC owner) way of getting a feel for the price of property surrounding current HCA's holdings. There was no, or has there ever been a push by HCA to "take over hole 3".
ReplyDeleteMark, you probably do not remember the proposal by West Valley in or around 2006 to use hole #3 as a HELIPAD for LIfe Flite. The uproar was equally loud back then. St. David's came to the rescue and the helipad is on their property.
ReplyDeleteWow. Quite the uproar over this issue. Even before any details have been presented, everyone is up in arms. This is quite the comedy. It is my duty as a Councilman to at least look at options in every case. There are several facts missing in all these comments and the article itself.
ReplyDelete1- The interested party is NOT West Valley. It is some independent doctors.
2- This idea is only an idea. That's it. No deal has been struck.
3- The two golf pros and the golf board are for looking at the idea further.
4- I didn't see any of you at the golf board committee meeting. I was there and almost everyone, after hearing the details, was for looking at the idea.
5- I DO golf, and the 3rd hole SUCKS. The golf pros presented what they thought might work to improve the course, and it was workable and may make the course better and safer. No more crossing 10th Ave. Did you know someone was hit there while driving their cart? Yes.
6- The golf course is about $800,000 in the hole to the city. How are we going to pay for that? Green fees? No.
7- The land south of the hospital is too far away to work for a surgery center. If they can't be near the hospital, they will choose Nampa. I do NOT want that to happen.
Lastly, I'm asking all of you to at least look at options. Don't just jump on the no wagon without looking. This is foolish. For too long, Caldwell has had a protectionist attitude and the result has been no jobs, a ghetto like downtown and a reputation that is anti-business. When will we learn Caldwell?
The "uproar" came directly off the front page of the Press Tribune.
ReplyDelete1. If the interested party is local doctors why aren't the front and center on pushing this deal v. Julie Taylor and the Mayor.
2. The idea is a very poor one given the uproar a few years back on the pad for Life Flite on hole #3.
3. The two golf pros do not represent the community wishes in this issue.
4. If there was any notice and agenda posted on the Golf Board meeting on this issue there might have been more people at the meeting.
5. I play golf and find hole #3 a challenge, that's part of the game. And as far as someone getting hit in their golf cart at 10th and Logan, it is an exception and with the intersection signalized how hazardous is this today?
6. Fairview Golf Course is a community asset and is more an extension of the downtown park. Also, how do you compare this to the $10 Million given to the YMCA as a youth activity and a crime deterrent. Short answer is; you can't put a price on it. It would be interesting to know the financials of Fairview v. Purple Sage or have these numbers simply been lumped together.
7. Who made the determination a couple of hundred feet is too far away? At first blush on this the doctors didn't want to pay Dr. Blaisdel his price.
In the final analysis this is a very hot issue for Citizens of Caldwell and a whole lot more transparency needs to come to the surface. Right now I feel betrayed by Caldwell's Mayor and city officials.