Permit issue puts clinic on hold

School District didn’t seek county approval to build health center

Leila Navidi

Carolyn Edwards, vice president of the Clark County School Board, speaks to Spring Valley residents at a meeting Monday about a health clinic proposed for Elaine Wynn Elementary School. Construction of the clinic is on hold while questions about a special-use permit are researched.

By Emily Richmond (contact)

Wednesday, Nov. 4, 2009 | 2 a.m.

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Much of the anger voiced at a Spring Valley neighborhood meeting Monday about a proposed student health clinic at Elaine Wynn Elementary School was directed at the Clark County School District for not having previously discussed the plan publicly.

On Tuesday district officials acknowledged that neighbors of the school were shortchanged on the ability to weigh in on the clinic.

At issue: whether the School District or Communities in Schools, the nonprofit group that intends to operate the campus clinic, should have applied for a special-use permit from the county. A spokesman for the county said the matter is being researched to determine whether the permit is required.

The permit application would have triggered a Clark County Commission public hearing to air the proposal and measure its merits versus potential effects on the neighborhood. Instead, construction of the clinic began several weeks ago without the public hearing and without a special-use permit.

County, School District and Communities in Schools officials say they think the misstep was based on a genuine misunderstanding, and not an intentional attempt to circumvent a public hearing. In the meantime, construction of the clinic has been put on hold.

Neighbors not notified

Residents living near Wynn Elementary say they had no idea a health clinic was going to be built until after a groundbreaking ceremony on Oct. 22. They have questioned the appropriateness of the location and possible effects on property values, traffic and neighborhood safety.

“I find it odd that our neighborhood was not notified of this laudable project,” 15-year resident Colette Welsing said at Monday’s meeting. “It appears the few in a boardroom made a decision for the many.”

Commissioner Susan Brager, whose district includes the area surrounding Wynn, has put the health clinic permit application on the agenda for the Nov. 18 meeting. The Spring Valley Town Board will also hear the issue Tuesday.

The Wynn campus health clinic would become the seventh to operate in Clark County. The nonprofit Nevada Health Centers operates clinics at C.P. Squires Elementary School, Roy Martin Middle School and Valley High School. Two — at Martinez and Cunningham elementary schools — are operated by Communities in Schools. The sixth, at Basic High School, is funded by Nevada State College.

The district provides land and the utilities hookups for the clinics, but the providers cover operational costs.

In 2004, when the district’s first campus health clinic opened at Martinez in North Las Vegas, a special-use permit was not sought because the clinic was a partnership with the county health district, and it was determined that a memorandum of understanding was sufficient. The health clinic was sponsored by Communities in Schools.

When another Communities in Schools clinic was built at Cunningham Elementary in 2007, the same process used for the Martinez project was followed, said Joyce Haldeman, the district‚s associate superintendent of community and government relations. Neighbors of both schools welcomed the clinics.

Surprised by opposition

The Southern Nevada chapter of NAIOP, the commercial real estate development association, has offered to donate the clinic building at Wynn Elementary, which would be named in memory of Casey Jones, who served as the business group’s president in 2005.

Because contractors and builders are donating their services, the construction schedule has little room for flexibility, said Louise Helton, state director of Communities in Schools of Nevada.

“I don’t want to put any more pressure on the situation than we have to, but (a delay) would definitely jeopardize the whole project,” Helton said.

The other Communities in Schools clinics were so well received by the surrounding neighborhoods that the opposition to the Wynn project took her by surprise, Helton said. She regretted the lack of outreach to the neighbors and said “we’re working very hard to make up for that.”

It appears that the clinics operated by Nevada Health Centers are in compliance with permit and licensing regulations of the respective jurisdictions, although district officials said they are double-checking to make sure no requirements have been overlooked.

Discussion: 3 comments so far…

By 2zero

11/4/09 at 8:21 a.m.

Suggest removal

Brager, what a freaking joke!

Just when we thought we got her out of doing more harm at the CCSD....
By dewey

11/4/09 at 10:20 a.m.

Suggest removal

Leave it to the government to break their own rules. Brager is either the most logical and objective poll around or she's an idiot and a hypocrite of the worst kind.

Heltons Communities in Schools has helped a lot of kids, but they are not above following the rules set forth for the rest of us. Private business would have been hung out to dry for this.
By CitizenAndVoter

11/14/09 at 12:20 p.m.

Suggest removal

Your readers need to know the real issues at play with this clinic. I live in the neighborhood and have been involved with this issue.

The hard work of Communities in Schools is sorely needed. In fact, it should be expanded and funded more fully. Keeping kids healthy and, therefore, focused and in school is an absolute necessity. The neighborhood surrounding Elaine Wynn Elementary enthusiastically applauds the work & mission of CIS.

The neighborhood is staunchly PRO clinic but AGAINST this location because it simply doesn't make sense. The location on Coley Ave is highly inconvenient to the very children & families it alleges to serve. For example, it offers no public transportation access which is the primary transportation mode for the majority of intended users, the latest proposal offers only 7 parking spaces for those who drive, and the nearest drug store to fill prescriptions written by clinic staff is a mile away.

There have been no traffic or neighborhood impact studies done on the proposed site, at least none publicly available. And the proposed access on Coley Avenue on the South side of Wynn Elementary is not a safe traffic zone especially during school drop-off and pick-up times.

It is only common sense that the clinic should be located closest to the most students it can serve, not on the far Southwest edge of the service area. Other sites such as Cashman or Clark can provide the most convenient, superior public access, parking & location for the children it is meant to serve.

Meetings & discussions concerning the Wynn Elementary site were held on many occasions over 2 years by School Board members, School District officials, School Board Trustees, Communities in Schools and NAIOP (possibly more) yet NO minutes or records of these exist. In two years not a single member of the neighborhood was notified or offered any information. And now, in spite of repeatedly asking how and by whom it was decided that this is a wise or useful location, the proponents offer no specifics and remain largely mute. Why is that?

There are myriad other reasons why this clinic should not be built at Wynn Elementary, some smacking of the nepotism and good 'ol boy favoritism of the Erin Kenny era. And your readers should know that last Tuesday the Spring Valley Town Advisory Board voted to deny a Use permit for the clinic (based on facts, not emotion).

But putting all that aside, if a much-needed clinic is to be built, then why locate it on the far edge & miles away from the center of the intended service area? Why locate it in a place where it poses a real difficulty to reach for most of the children of the 6 schools it is intended to serve? And why locate it less than 3 blocks from another free clinic that is in the process of gaining funding, approvals and permits?

Locating this clinic at Wynn Elementary simply makes no sense. And it surely doesn't pass the smell test.

Regards.
Concerned Neighbor and Citizen Voter