Trotwood meeting to cover behavioral health hospitals following planned development at former Hara Arena site

Trotwood and Harrison Twp. are hoping to breathe new life into the site where Hara Arena once stood. BRYANT BILLING / STAFF

Trotwood and Harrison Twp. are hoping to breathe new life into the site where Hara Arena once stood. BRYANT BILLING / STAFF

Trotwood community members are invited to a public meeting Gateway Cathedral will be hosting to discuss behavioral health hospitals following the proposed hospital planned for development at the former Hara Arena site.

The community meeting, which will go over what happens at behavioral health hospitals, will be held at 6:30 p.m., Friday, Feb. 6, at Gateway Cathedral, 5501 Olive Road in Trotwood.

Gateway Cathedral is hosting the meeting as a community partner committed to fostering transparency, civic dialogue and informed participation around major developments affecting the community, a press release about the upcoming meeting states.

“This meeting is about ensuring residents have access to information and a space to be heard,” said organizers. “Behavioral health services are an important topic, and it’s critical that the community has a voice in conversations that shape our neighborhoods.”

The meeting is open to the public. Organizers are encouraging residents, stakeholders, faith leaders and community organizations to attend.

The state of Ohio now owns the former Hara Arena site, according to a spokesman for Harrison Twp. last month — a purchase setting the stage for a new behavioral health hospital at that location.

The move was expected as the state approved a $2.5 million appropriation in November for the purchase of the site of the former Hara Arena in Trotwood and Harrison Twp.

The township anticipates the new hospital will create 500 new jobs at the site, with an expected annual payroll of some $126 million.

Trotwood administrators, city council members and the Dayton Unit NAACP have previously expressed that they are against locating the hospital at the former Hara Arena site, but they are not against behavioral health hospitals in general.

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