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City Council Study Session Minutes—September 23, 2013
At approximately 7:00 p.m. Mayor Dean Maxwell called the regularly scheduled Anacortes City Council
study session of September 23, 2013 to order. City Councilmembers Eric Johnson, Ryan Walters, Erica
Pickett, Bill Turner, Cynthia Richardson and Brian Geer were present. Brad Adams was absent.
Mayor Maxwell removed the third item on the agenda, Nuisance Abatement at 4009 L Avenue, explaining
that the City Improvement Board is handling the matter so it would not be discussed by Council because
City Council is potentially the appeal board in such a case.
Anacortes Family Center
Dustin Johnson, new Executive Director of the Anacortes Family Center, introduced himself to Council
and provided an update on the achievements of the center and its plans for the future to address
homelessness and domestic violence in Anacortes. Mr. Johnson related several case studies of shelter
clients. He reported that the shelter has been operating in a deficit for the past three years and requested
the community's ongoing support to continue the important work of the Center.
Island Hospital 2035 Comprehensive Plan
Island Hospital CFO Vince Oliver provided an update on the hospital's services, its current challenges,
and salient points of the hospital's 2035 master plan. Mr. Oliver said the hospital's biggest challenges
include understanding healthcare reform, Health-Insurance exchanges, state budget cuts, costly
technology advances, competition from Peace Island Medical Center in Friday Harbor, federal
sequestration of 2% of every Medicare dollar since April 2013, charity care, bad debt, formation of a
Community Advisory Committee to address affiliation with a large hospital system, and addressing the
need for growth and change over time.
Mr. Oliver next addressed the hospital's economic value to the City. He said in 2012 sales tax paid by
Island Hospital to Anacortes was$200K and was estimated to be $298K by 2035, or 72 cents per square
foot. He added that the hospital currently employs 726 people, about half of whom live in Anacortes, and
supports an additional 1600 jobs through indirect employment. Mr. Oliver said the job base is expected to
grow with the master plan and referenced an American Hospital Association figure that medical use
generates five times more jobs than retail and four times more jobs than business.
Mr. Oliver then displayed maps illustrating the footprint of the hospital campus now and projected per the
master plan. He said that in the next 5-10 years the hospital wants to develop a parking deck at 24th and
M; build a new 2-story structure for obstetrics, the ICU and the helipad; renovate the surgery wing to take
over the old obstetrics space; and turn the existing ICU into outpatient area. Mr. Oliver estimated the
hospital would spend $34M on these changes in next 10 years. In the next 20 years the hospital is
looking at a medical office building on Commercial Avenue, a new dietary, and moving its power plant.
Ultimately, he said, in 2035 they will redirect 26th Street to clarify the hospital zone which will involve
demolition and rebuilding some additional buildings. He concluded that the entire campus will continue to
stay between 24th and 26th Streets and M and Commercial Avenues. He reminded that the hospital has
submitted a medical use overlay application but may hold off on that until the 2016 comprehensive plan.
Mayor Maxwell requested a written document reflecting what Mr. Oliver had presented. Mr. Oliver said he
just received the printed draft master plan on Friday and would leave a copy with Planning Director Ryan
Larsen. Mayor Maxwell asked what this expansion would cost the community. Mr. Oliver estimated $67M
escalated to 2030 dollars. Mr. Oliver addressed questions from councilmembers about its plans and
projections for the future. The mayor expressed concerns about hospital buildings moving onto
Commercial Avenue in the commercial business district because of the potential for conflicting
commercial and medical uses on adjacent properties. Mrs. Richardson asked if the draft master plan
would be posted on the Island Hospital website and Mr. Oliver said yes.
There being no further business, at approximately 8:07 p.m. the regularly scheduled Anacortes City
Council study session of September 23, 2013 adjourned.
Anacortes City Council Study Session Minutes September 23, 2013 1