The proposed Broadway site
A member of the King County Council says he has prepared an “emergency resolution” calling for a 30-day pause on the county’s efforts to acquire the Polyclinic building at the corner of Broadway and Union where a $56 million Broadway Crisis Care Center is planned.
Reagan Dunn, representing the county’s southeast, is reportedly mulling the call for a pause over concerns about the proposed property deal raised by “a group of Capitol Hill business owners and residents,” KOMO reports:
The group sent a lengthy letter to King County Executive Shannon Braddock, County Council Chair Girmay Zahilay, and Department of Community and Health Services Director Kelly Rider last week, accusing them of potentially violating laws and triggering a devolving street crime situation like what happed with the failed Navigation Center in Little Saigon.
CHS has not been provided with a copy of the letter but representatives from nearby Cancer Pathways and Perkins Glass spoke to the TV station about their concerns over the proposed center.
The glass services company, by the way, exited Broadway earlier this year after 53 years of business on the street.
KOMO cites an unnamed attorney in the letter alleging the county is proposing “to pay Guntower Capital LLC a $11,500,000 Assignment Fee using levy funds intended for behavioral services for those living with mental health issues.” In addition to reportedly being involved in the financing of the crisis center deal, the Guntower development firm has also been busy in the neighborhood planning a seven-story mixed-use development at E Olive Way and Denny.
Local developers have also raised questions about Guntower’s involvement and the bidding process for the services contract to run the center. CHS reported this summer on the likelihood Arizona-headquartered service provider Connections that is operating its upgraded Kirkland location as the first in the planned $1.25 billion network of five facilities across the county has made a bid to also operate the planned Broadway center.
The renewed opposition follows conditional support for the Broadway Crisis Care Center from Mayor Bruce Harrell and community groups including the Capitol Hill Community Council and echoes the initial wave of pushback on the project from neighborhood business owners including ice cream entrepreneur Molly Moon Neitzel.
In his letter, Harrell said the county and the yet to be announced operator of the center must partner with the Seattle Police Department to assess the former Polyclinic building and its surroundings for safety, execute a “safe operations plan for the building and the surrounding exterior spaces, including public sidewalks and other publicly accessible spaces,” and enter into a Good Neighbor Agreement with the city that “obligates the provider to meet certain safety and disorder standards to be negotiated with the provider.”
CHS Broadway Crisis Care Center Timeline
Approved by county voters in the spring of 2023, the levy was planned to cost median-value homeowners an estimated $121 a year over a nine year period, raising as much as $1.25 billion through 2032 to fund creation of the five crisis care centers and increase mental health services in the county.
While the property acquisitions and facility upgrades were an expected part of the program, the use of contracting service providers to run the centers has been an unexpected controversy around the plan. In addition to buying and owning the properties, the levy will provide companies like Connections access to operations funding plus $2 million annually “in workforce funding to support, strengthen, and recruit their workforce.”
The Crisis Centers must provide 24/7 walk-in care, 23-Hour Observation Units for patients brought in by police “to receive immediate care to stabilize and stay for up to 23 hours,” and “crisis stabilization beds” where individuals can stay for up to 14 days “to receive focused behavioral health treatment.”
In addition to the mayor’s conditional support, Seattle City Councilmember Alexis Mercedes Rinck has strongly backed the plan. Her counterpart on the council and District 3 representative Joy Hollingsworth has been a more cautious supporter, calling on King County Department of Community and Human Services to improve its communications and feedback process around the effort for the densely populated and busy area it is planning the facility to fit into.
The county has been meeting with community groups since spring. Officials say the hope is to close on the building by the end of 2025, putting the center on track for a 2027 opening.
Ordinances sponsored by King County Councilmember Teresa Mosqueda to purchase the property and open the center are on the agenda for the council’s Wednesday meeting of its budget committee. Wednesday’s 9:30 AM session will include “discussion and possible action” on the proposals as well as public comment.
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