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Neither group wants to stay, but the state has final say. Expansion is a possibility, but neighbors may fight it.
By JENNIFER GOLDBLATT, Times Staff Writer
© St. Petersburg Times, published May 10, 2002
NEW PORT RICHEY -- After Community and North Bay hospitals said they wanted to move out of New Port Richey, city officials tried to entice them to stay with a batch of incentives.
Now, Community Hospital officials say the city's offers won't do. And officials at North Bay say they'll only take advantage of the city's offers if the hospital moves.
"I fully appreciate what the city is saying, but I just don't at this point see that (expanding on our current site is) a workable alternative to solving our problems," Ernie Meier, chief executive of Community Hospital, told the Times Thursday.
"There's nothing wrong with the concepts; it's the execution of those concepts that's the issue. It's just not going to work."
North Bay Hospital still is determined to leave the city. If it does, officials will welcome the city's offer of assistance in converting the current hospital site for another medical use.
"We're committed to relocating, and we're hopeful that we receive approval from the state," said Beth Hardy, a spokeswoman for Morton Plant Mease, the nonprofit group that owns North Bay.
"We would welcome any assistance the city could provide in terms of determining the future of the health care use of the site, and how we go about making that happen."
Hardy could not offer details on what kind of assistance the hospital would want or how the building will be used if the hospital leaves.
What if the state doesn't let North Bay go?
"We are really not speculating about what would happen," she said.
Officials from both hospitals say they need room to expand and want to move farther south in west Pasco. The city, which stands to lose its biggest taxpayer and two largest employers, has asked the state to deny both hospitals' requests. The state will render a final decision in June.
In the meantime, the city has tried to get the hospitals to change their minds. The city has offered to build the hospitals a parking garage, acquire 25 nearby acres for expansion and provide a low-interest loan to expand where they are.
Meier said he's concerned that the city's acquisition of nearby property through its powers of eminent domain could take longer and cost more than it would for Community Hospital to build a new hospital farther south.
He added that the eminent domain process likely would spur lawsuits from property owners who don't want to sell their homes, and that it would create bad will toward the hospital.
"Many of the citizens who are so appreciative of having a hospital in their back yards, are going to have to leave," Meier said. "Many of the doctors who are opposed to our relocation -- where their properties are is what has to be taken over."
Meier said that the city's offer to build a parking deck is enticing, but the reality is that "60 percent of our (patients) are retired and I don't know how many of them like to negotiate a seven-story parking deck."
City officials could not be reached Thursday for comment.
-- Jennifer Goldblatt covers business in Pasco County. She can be reached in west Pasco at 869-6229, or toll-free at 1-800-333-7505, ext. 6229. Her e-mail address is