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Zoning board advances plans for walk-in clinic
After several spoke in favor of and one against, the McCook Planning Commission voted Monday night to allow business and professional services in areas zoned highway commercial.
If approved by the City Council at its Jan. 19 meeting, the zoning change will allow a McCook developer to move forward with plans to build a walk-in medical clinic on Holiday Bison Drive, where the former Bison Drive-In theater was located.
The request for the zoning amendment came from Jim Allen of High Plains Land Management, developer/owner of the proposed "Quality Urgent Care" medical clinic and John Hubert, owner of property on north U.S. Highway 83, where the facility is anticipated to be built.
The area is zoned highway commercial; Westview Plaza, across U.S. Highway 83, is zoned business commercial.
Before a packed crowd at the public hearing Monday night, Allen told the Planning Commission that he had looked at other vacant buildings in McCook before deciding that the property owned by Hubert fit the needs of the proposed clinic. He admitted the size and scope of the building was not divulged by himself or the contractors due to concerns about his job.
"I wasn't trying to circumvent or go under the wire" on the project, Allen said
As soon as it became public what he was planning, Allen said he lost his job.
Allen was employed as a physician assistant at the hospital.
Dale Ellerton, who lives behind the area where the proposed clinic would be built, said he and his neighbors thought the clinic would be a great asset to the city. Larry Rathbun, who owns a business on north U.S. Highway 83, concurred and added that this was a chance to help the city grow.
"This would keep a young family in town, add a business to the tax roll, and bring people to town," Ellerton said.
Another citizen, Gina Stamm, whose husband co-owns an eye clinic in McCook, agreed that an urgent care clinic is a great economic development opportunity for the city and will draw people to town. People who use the facility would shop in the community, eat out and buy their medicine while in McCook, she said.
"I can't imagine denying the opportunity for a business like this," Stamm said.
Also speaking in favor of the zone amendment was John Hubert, who told the commission that he and Allen weren't aware that a medical clinic was not allowed in the area. He pointed out that other professional/business services are currently on U.S. Highway 83, including a radio station, a CPA business and a hearing aid office. He read a letter from the manager of Holiday Inn Express, that would be next to the proposed clinic, that supported the facility as "a good fit" and a way to promote growth.
But the Commission also heard from Dr. Mark Serbousek, a doctor with McCook Medical Clinic. Serbousek questioned whether it was necessary to change an entire zoning law for a clinic that little is known about.
"There are other areas zoned for it," Serbousek said. Other concerns he raised included the distance between Community Hospital in case an ambulance is needed, and the recruitment of two new physicians.
Commission member Kurt Vosburg asked why business and professional offices weren't included in the highway commercial zone and City Manager Kurt Fritsch answered that the area originally was meant for more transitory, heavier vehicle traffic, such as motels and drive-ins.
Another commission member, Dan Miller, asked why a credit building is already in the area and Fritsch said it may have been grandfathered in when new zoning laws were enacted in the 1980s.
Commission Chairman Dale Dueland noted that the zoning change would reflect the higher pedestrian traffic seen in highway commercial areas.
After the meeting, Allen said his proposed facility would provide medical services on a walk-in basis, from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. seven days a week.
"Our goal isn't a large volume," he said, but to offer medical services for such things as ear infections, broken bones, coughs and colds and the like. Full medical services for illnesses like diabetes, that require a doctor's care, would not be available.
Allen said the idea for a medical clinic came as he and his wife wanted to stay in the community with their three children.
"I tried to think of something I could do, and I saw a need and filled it," he explained.
The clinic he is proposing would include six examination rooms and two procedure rooms.