The City of McCleary’s hearing examiner will hold a public hearing on May 16 to discuss hospital and residential treatment facility zoning.
The meeting will be held at 6 p.m. at the McCleary VFW Hall (158 N. Summit Road in McCleary).
Great Rivers Behavioral Health Organization — a five-county agency that handles mental health treatment funding — is planning to open a residential treatment facility at the former site of the Mark Reed Hospital in McCleary.
The Mark Reed Hospital is within a residential zone. When the hospital was open and operating, it had been grandfathered into the residential zone. For the past several months, the McCleary City Council has been reviewing zoning language and city code definitions to determine if the residential treatment facility can legally operate at the former Mark Reed Hospital.
A residential treatment facility is different than a hospital. The proposed treatment facility would treat patients on an involuntary basis. Those patients typically have severe mental health or substance abuse issues and can’t be held in a jail or hospital. The residential treatment facility would stabilize the patient and then transport them back to their community.
Great Rivers BHO has hired Telecare to provide services at the residential treatment facility. Grays Harbor Hospital District 1 (Summit Pacific) owns the building and will lease the site to the BHO.
Members of the public and the McCleary City Council have been outspoken in their opposition to the residential treatment facility.
Proponents of the facility say it will provide a necessary service to the patients and benefit the whole region. Currently, there is no residential treatment facility in Grays Harbor County.
According to the hearing notification released by the city, the May 16 public hearing will look at two questions:
• “Should hospitals continue to be allowed as a conditional use in residential zones? If not, what modifications should be made as to zone in which hospitals are allowed, whether as a permitted or conditional use?”
• “How should a residential treatment facility (RTF) be classified under the City’s zoning code in light of the applicable law and judicial decisions relating to this category of use? Again, are they required to be a permitted use and, if so, what regulatory factors would you recommend? If a conditional use, the same second aspect.”
