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Besides the loss of the emergency room and other health services, the closure of the 1,600-employee hospital has meant the loss of an economic anchor for the surrounding neighborhoods and northwest suburbs.
Premier hired Columbus-based Planning NEXT to create an outline for the future redevelopment of the land.
The second of three workshops on the outline will be held from from 6 to 8 p.m. today at Fairview Pre-K–6th School in Dayton.
“We are saying ‘This is what we think we learned and this is what it suggests for some potential future development. How does this resnoate with you?’ It’s really about testing some ideas and directions,” said Jamie Greene, principal with Planning NEXT.
At the meeting, there will be a brief presentation and then the public can comment on display boards. Premier officials will be on site.
The planners will take the feedback and come back for a third and final workshop with their recommendations for the 13-acre site, which is at the corner of Philadelphia Drive and Salem Avenue.
The workshop comes after a series of community forums and committee meetings by Planning NEXT, Premier and City Wide Development, which is a private economic development corporation. Greene said about 400 people have given feedback.
The plan will be an outline intended to pinpoint what the community would support, to attract potential developers and to give developers insight needed to make a plan.
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“It’s the boundary conditions of what the community wants and what we think is viable that would attract private sector interests to participate,” Greene said.
There have been calls from community groups and elected officials to leave the hospital campus standing and instead redevelop it or let new users come in.
There is no timeline announced yet for when the hospital will be torn down.
While the planning process is happening, a group of clergy filed a complaint with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services saying the closing of the hospital violates the civil rights of blacks and women.
The hospital is one of two hospitals Premier had operated in Dayton, and the residents for whom Good Samaritan is the closest hospital are 75 percent black.
Premier has said it could not sustainably operate two hospitals in a city with a declining population and falling demand for hospital services, and the hospital also said it offered jobs to those who applied to stay with the health system.
After the federal department’s civil rights office opened up an investigation into the complaint, the Dayton mayor called for Premier to not tear down the hospital until the investigation is complete.
Premier Health officials have said the health network would either hold on to the land and lease it or would sell it, but if it does sell the land, it would place restrictions on the real estate deeds that would prevent anyone from having inpatient beds on the site.
Good Sambserved not just the immediate neighborhoods, but also impacted the surrounding suburbs.
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Kristofer McClintick, Harrison Twp. administrator, said “it was definitely a hit to our community” when the hospital closed and said township residents relied on its health services.
McClintick is on the advisory committee for the Good Samaritan site planning process and part of the township is in the planning study area.
“What I really feel from the planning committee perspective is they are trying to balance what they community wants and what is marketable for that site,” McClintick said. “Because I think if the community had a choice, they’d like to see the hospital remain.”
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