Health Corridor proposal makes its debut tonight
Doug Bisson (left) of HDR displayed one of four general outlines of potential Health Corridor District plans during a July workshop. ignite cda will deliver plans at tonight's Planning Commission meeting for the Coeur d'Alene City Council to review. (CRAIG NORTHRUP/Press)
CRAIG NORTHRUP/Press Doug Bisson of HDR explains the traffic grid he and his team designed after a series of public workshops for the potential Health Corridor. The consulting firm incorporated input generated by the workshops, surveys and testimonials from the community.
What started more than four years ago as a conversation about cleaning up the “medical corridor,” the local lingo used to describe the land surrounding Kootenai Health, will morph from the hypothetical to the actual at tonight’s Coeur d’Alene Planning Commission meeting.
Tony Berns, executive director of the urban development agency ignite cda, will ask the Planning Commission to review the agency’s plan for the 264-acre project’s conformity with Coeur d’Alene’s comprehensive plan.
The area, which would impact $197 million in assessed land value, is intended to both develop and re-develop deteriorating properties around Kootenai Health over the course of 20 years. The acreage stretches east to west from Government Way to Northwest Boulevard and north to south from the area around I-90 to Division Avenue.
Notable properties within the Health Corridor include the abandoned Shopko property, the Albertson’s and other tenants in Ironwood Square, the Lake City Center on Lakewood Drive, and the former medical center that now houses Qualfon on Irownwood. A number of homes to the south and east of Kootenai Urgent Care are also within its boundaries.
Councilman Dan English, who sits on the ignite board, said maintaining a healthy medical industry in Coeur d’Alene can serve as a huge asset to the community.
“I think one of the major impacts [the Health Corridor] could have is to make sure Kootenai Health and the related health industry there can stay anchored in Coeur d’Alene,” he said. “The jobs and the services they offer are a real asset to the community. If it goes through, it would certainly help motorized and bike and pedestrian traffic.”
“This is a major expansion of Kootenai Health and the health care community in Coeur d’Alene,” board commissioner Jim Chapkis said amid the public input-gathering process, “and we need to hear from every voice in our community on how this will look. [The community is] going to be living and breathing it every single day.”
If eventually approved, ignite cda could finance the Health Corridor with revenue allocation funds, financial assistance from the city — including loans and grants — help from the State of Idaho, federal funds, donations, loans from private institutions, the lease or sale of ignite-owned property and assistance from any taxing district, among others.
The plan does not, however, obligate City Hall to fund or financially participate in any projects whatsoever. To date, the only city funds invested into the Health Corridor have been for advisory groups to study its feasibility.
The plan also offers the chance to install an overpass that would connect Appleway directly to the Kootenai Health grounds, something English says commuters would not likely see sooner, but later.
“On one hand, that overpass is kind of a high-priority item,” he said. “I think there’s a lot of hope it could happen, but that’s probably something we’ll see down the road.”
The estimated total cost to serve the Health Corridor during the next two decades reaches just over $64 million in 2020 dollars.