City OKs agreement with non-profit organization to tear down old hospital

A local non-profit agency promised Monday that the old Corbin Municipal Hospital will be gone before next summer, replaced by townhomes … but the project won’t be funded by the federal government like first thought.
During the regular monthly meeting of the Corbin City Commission Monday night, city leaders passed the first reading of an ordinance and development agreement with Kentucky Communities Economic Opportunity Council, Inc. (KCEOC) that would give land adjacent to the hospital to the organization provided it provides the city with a development plan for the site within six months, begins demolition of the old hospital by spring 2007, and begins building housing on the land within three years.
In 2005, KCEOC purchased the hospital, located off Bishop Street in Corbin, for $20,000 from the city, ending a long-standing dispute over ownership. KCEOC President Paul Dole said, at the time, that the organization would obtain grant funds from the Environmental Protection Agency specifically earmarked to deal with such projects. Miles Estes, Vice President for Advancement for KCEOC, said that promise of funding fell through.
“Right now, we are actually looking at private funding. We aren’t looking at grants,” he said. “Those funds were already promised, so that was not going to be available.”
Estes said demolition of the hospital would cost between $300,000 to $400,000 with an added cost of $250,000 for asbestos removal. Now banned as a viable construction material because of its link to cancer, asbestos was once commonly used in insulation and ceiling tiles, among other things, because it is relatively impervious to fire. Rampant vandalism at the hospital during the 20 years since it was vacated has caused the substance to lay strewn all about the property.
Commissioners asked if, given the change in funding sources, the current timeline was realistic. Estes said it was.
“I think it will still happen,” Estes said. “I’ve not felt anything or been told anything to the contrary.”
In any event, KCEOC’s wiggle-room regarding the project was hampered over the summer when Whitley Circuit Judge Paul Braden issued a court order requiring KCEOC to have the hospital demolished by next spring and begin constructing “blended housing” on the site. Braden accepted a timeline submitted by the organization to the Corbin Code Enforcement Board as a temporary settlement in a lawsuit filed by local attorney David O. Smith. The lawsuit claimed the city had been derelict in its duties to enforce its own property maintenance codes regarding the property.
Already, KCEOC has attempted to block rudimentary access to the abandoned hospital by placing barriers at entryways and installing plywood over windows and doors. Still, the structure has become almost legendary as a magnet for vandals, vagrants and thrill-seekers.
“There’s a potential that some developers might be interested in helping us develop the property and operating the townhouses and so on for a profit,” Estes said. “It’s all part of a development plan we are getting ready to work through. We will look at what the best options are for that area of the city … what will benefit the city best.”
The agreement gives the city the right to accept or reject any proposal for development by KCEOC. Also, if the group fails to build housing on the site within three years, the land granted will revert to the city.
City Commissioner Alan Onkst said he was “taken aback” by the revelation Monday that the organization would not be obtaining grant funds for the project, but said he is still upbeat about the proposal.
“They’ve done almost everything they said they were going to do about maintaining the property and those type of things,” he said. “I just want the building gone. Even if it is torn down and leveled out and just grass sown there, that would be a long way from where we are now. Every commission for a long time has struggled with trying to find an answer for it. I hope we’ve found an answer to it.”
Proposals for the structure in the past included a veterans’ hospital and a minimum-security detention facility. All fell by the wayside amid opposition.
In other business, the commission:
• Approved an agreement with the Governor’s Officer for Local Development for funding related to the Southeast Kentucky Agriculture and Exposition Center (civic center).
• Instructed City Attorney Bob Hammons to send a letter to the Corbin Tourist and Convention Commission regarding proper handling of restaurant tax money. Tourism officials had asked Hammons to clarify the legality of exempting out a portion of local restaurant tax revenues for civic center expenses.
• Heard a report about the new civic center construction from John Hensley, a representative from Bullock-Smith and Associates, the design firm on the project, and Randy Corlew, a physical engineer and Associate Site Director for Wilbur Smith and Associates.
Hensley said that because of delays caused by changes and expansion of mass grading plans, the project would be ready for bids from general contractors by February 2007. Planners and city leaders had originally hoped to begin bidding the project in October.
Corlew said, though, that expansion of grading would benefit the project by providing about two and a half acres of additional parking (about 125 parking spaces), and would ensure a less steep access road with only a six percent grade. He said 75 percent of the road would be in place by the end of grading at a cost of about $700,000, about half of what the main access road to the center was predicted to cost.
Corbin Mayor Amos Miller said doing extra work early on in the project would save money down the road because of inflation and increased material costs.
• Approved a $200 Christmas cost-of-living, one-time increase for all full-time employees and $100 for all part-time employees. The Commission normally approves a similar measure each December.