Design OK’d for Vegas mental hospital

Tuesday, Dec. 30, 2003 | 11:32 a.m.

CARSON CITY -- Despite pleas from nearby residents, the state Public Works Board on Monday approved the design for a 150-bed psychiatric hospital to be built on the campus of the present mental health center in Southern Nevada.

Those protesting the location will have a chance to present their case to the Las Vegas Planning Commission on Feb. 12 and the Las Vegas City Council on March 17.

State Budget Director Perry Comeaux said if the local governments do not approve the location at Oakey and Jones boulevards, then "this project is dead in the water." He said the issue of a new location would have to be approved by the 2005 Legislature.

Sue Brna, who lives in the neighborhood near the proposed site, told the board that six different neighborhoods comprising 56,000 residents oppose the hospital. She said the hospital would be 80 feet away from a school and "vulnerable children."

"These people (the mentally ill) are suicidal and homicidal," she argued as she and others tried to persuade the board to scrap the location.

Juanita Clark, who also lives in the neighborhood, said there are 26 elementary schools, seven junior high schools and five high schools within a three-mile radius of the location.

Jack Schofield, a University and Community College System of Nevada regent, said this site would be "ideal for growth" of the community college system in Nevada. He asked the regents to consider this as a future site for the system.

But I.R. "Renny' Ashleman, a member of the public works board, asked Schofield if the regents have passed a resolution asking for the property and if the regents were willing to pay the increased cost for the state to re-locate the property at another site.

Schofield said there has been discussion and he hoped the regents would look at it in the future.

Clark suggested the board look at alternate sites such as top of the parking garage at University Medical Center, near the Lake Mead Hospital or at Vacation Village. Other suggested it be located in a rural area away from the city where there would be room for expansion.

Senior Deputy Attorney General Robert Bryant, who acts as legal adviser to the public works board, said that moving the project to a new site would "constitute a brand new project" and would have to be approved by the 2005 Legislature.

He said the public works board does not have the authority to change the location, once decided by the Legislature.

But Clark said that some of the legislators didn't know the hospital was to be located at that site. She said Sen. Barbara Cegavske, R-Las Vegas, and Assemblywoman Valerie Weber, R-Las Vegas, were opposed to the site.

Clark and others said they would like to see a community college at the location.

The hospital was the top priority for Gov. Kenny Guinn to accommodate a growing population in Southern Nevada and to relieve emergency rooms where mental health patients are filling up the beds.

Dr. David Rosin, head of the state's mental health programs in Southern Nevada, told the board that 30-70 beds are occupied every day in hospital emergency rooms by people with mental health problems and they stay there for anywhere from 2-5 days. He said that accounts for one-fourth of the emergency room beds in Clark County.

He said those patients with heart attacks, auto injuries or other ailments can't get adequate emergency care because those who mental problems are in these beds.

If the project is delayed two years, he said those in Clark County would continue to receive "inadequate emergency care."

The project is not only facing opposition from residents but also the possibility of cost overruns.

Jerry Eich of HMC Architects of Reno, that designed the project, said the cost could be $1 million to $2 million above the money allocated. The construction costs is estimated at $18.9 million.

Eich said there were extra costs because of a water channel running through the property. To keep within the budget, the planned gymnasium may have to be scaled back, a snack bar eliminated and the parking area reduced.

Ashleman wondered if another location should be considered because of the flood problems. But Eich said the operational costs would rise if the project was moved. He said the new hospital would use the existing kitchen and the present staff for maintenance and security.

If another location was chosen, there would have to be more doctors because they would have to commute between the out-patient clinic and the new site.

There are a 109-bed hospital and an out-patient clinic at the location now. The hospital would be converted to other uses such as a center for Alzheimer patients.

Eich said there would be building with 30 beds for emergency mental health cases and three additional "pods" with 40 beds each for longer-term patients. Long range plans call for building another "pod" with 40 additional beds.

Asked about security, Eich said there would be 14-foot concrete block walls with an angled roof connecting the "pods" so inmates would not be able to climb over.

Public Works Board Chairman Sean Carnahan of Sparks questioned whether it might be wise to "mothball" the project until the local governments act on the zoning issue. "Do we want to move ahead with additional costs with the site still up in the air?" he asked.

Board member Joanne Blystone of Las Vegas said she was "not sure I agree with the location" but added the psychiatric hospital was needed.

The hospital is scheduled to be completed in December 2005 and patients start being accepted in January 2006. Dan O'Brien, manager of the public works board said "Delaying the schematic design is not in the best interest."

The board unanimously to approve the design that is similar to the one built at the mental health center in Sparks.