News Around The Nation
June 1, 2000
News Around The Nation
Alabama
Paragon Assisted Living plans to open a $4.5 million, 35,000-square-foot facility in Birmingham in June. The facility will have 50 beds for assisted living residents and a 14-bed wing for patients with Alzheimer’s disease, reports the Birmingham Business Journal. Lakeview Estates, now under construction, will be followed by Paragon’s next planned development for Birmingham, The Cottage at Riverchase, a facility designed for Alzheimer’s disease patients. Plans for the second facility are being finalized, and Paragon says it will take about a year to complete it.
Alabama Gov. Don Siegelman has signed a bill to take part of the state's tobacco settlement money to create a "rainy-day" fund to support Alabama's Medicaid agency through the end of the decade. Senior citizens should never have to "lay their head down at night and worry about where the money for their medicine is coming from," Siegelman tells the Associated Press. The bill puts aside 40% of the state's portion of the national tobacco settlement, says Rep. Perry Hooper (R-Montgomery), one of the bill's sponsors. The bill also was sponsored by Sen. Roger Bedford (D-Russellville). The state is to receive $3 billion over the next 25 years. The first installment, more than $131 million, was received in May. The bill also creates a Long Term Care Task Force to help the state prepare for the exponential growth of its senior citizens. Other bills signed during this legislative session include one that provides additional means for senior citizen assistance through a voluntary check-off on state income tax return forms, and another which increased funding for the Meals on Wheels program and created an enhanced network for rural transportation for senior citizens, the AP reports.
Florida
The Residence at Timber Pines in the St. Petersburg area has just opened its independent living apartments after two years of construction. The assisted living and memory care centers will open in about six weeks, reports the St. Petersburg Times. The site offers 128 apartments and suites for 160 residents.
Idaho
Elite Care II, an eight-bed assisted living facility, is under construction in Hayden Lake and should be completed this month. Elite Care will own and operate the facility. The company also owns and operates Elite Care I (Hayden Lake), also an assisted living facility, reports the Journal of Business (Spokane, WA).
llinois
Carol Stream Village Board members have given Pasquinelli Homes of the Chicago area an unofficial green light on its proposed senior citizens subdivision, reports the Chicago Tribune. "I think Pasquinelli has made some concessions here," Trustee Skip Stubbs told the Tribune at a recent public hearing on the developer’s third plan for the 42-acre site. The developer has agreed to the entire cost of a realignment that would take place to build the community, says attorney Joseph Ash. A 110-unit, duplex development would be built by the company, the Tribune reports. Trustees are expected to vote on the annexation agreement June 1.
Maryland
Maryland Gov. Parris Glendening has signed into law a bill to create a grant program in the state for the conversion of public buildings to assisted living facilities. The bill creates a program under the Department of Health and Mental Hygiene to make capital grants available to nonprofit assisted living providers to be used to acquire, construct, renovate, and equip facilities, according to media reports. Dianne Dorlester, executive director of the Maryland Assisted Living Association, says the organization is "very happy the governor realized what a priority it is to enact this type of legislation into law." Counties and municipal corporations are also eligible for the grant program. The new law goes into effect July 1, the reports say.
New Jersey
A developer in the state is eyeing a tract of land in Bergen, one of the last borough-owned properties on the market, as the potential site for 226 housing units, which would include assisted living complexes. The development, being proposed by Signature Builders, would consist of a 120-unit assisted living facility, two 35-unit senior citizen buildings, a 28-unit condominium building, and four, two-family homes. Bergen Mayor Stewart Veale hails the proposal as a big plus for the community, reports the (Bergen) Record. To complete the project, the Borough Council has to pass a zoning amendment to accomodate the mixed housing uses on the site, the Record reports.
New York
A private proposal by a Clifton Park official to build a senior facility on property he bought last year is to be reviewed by the town’s ethics board. The official, John Hahn, the town’s director of community development, would need the Town Board to rezone the parcel to proceed with the project, reports the (Albany, NY) Times Union. The project would include 96 apartments and 20 cottages providing assisted living and independent living, reports the Times Union.
Oklahoma
Forest Hills' newest assisted living facility has opened. The Forest Hills Assisted Living Center opened May 1. It is located directly west of its other facility, the Forest Hills Health Care Facility. The new, 75-unit facility has been in the works for some time now, but has been worth the wait according to a report in Tulsa World.
Pennsylvania
Milford Township supervisors listened to more than three hours of testimony at a recent hearing, but made no decision regarding the fate of Victorian Village, an assisted living facility and condominium development for senior citizens. Bucks County developer Tom Pileggi wants to build the community, which would include a 200-bed nursing home and 440 condominiums, on land zoned as farmland preservation, reports the Allentown Morning Call. The hearing was a continuation from one held in March. The board heard testimony from several expert witnesses, including the chief planner of the Lehigh Valley Planning Commission (LVPC) and a civil engineer who specializes in traffic concerns. Pileggi contends the township’s zoning law is exclusionary because it doesn’t allow for nursing, personal care, or high-density multifamily homes, the Morning Call reports. Residents have been opposed to the project since it was proposed a year ago and argue that the development would destroy the agricultural tenor of the township. And LVPC Chief Planner Olev Taremae said Victorian Village shouldn’t be built on land reserved for farmland preservation, reports the Morning Call.
Tennessee
A rezoning for a proposed 190-acre development that would include a shopping center, a movie theatre, offices, and retail businesses has won preliminary approval from Hendersonville’s aldermen. The project, Glenbrook North, could also include an assisted living facility, reports the Tennessean, but not everyone is sure the project will be a success or a boon to the city. Officials in the city have complained that they lose sales tax money to RiverGate Mall and its surrounding commercial area, which is in the next county. Some officials say the project would take money away from established businesses in the community, the Tennessean reports. But advocates of the proposed complex say it is "an opportunity to bring businesses to our city to keep the cost of living down and promote other areas in Hendersonville to grow." Advocates also project that the complex will mean 2,400 new jobs in Hendersonville in the next five to six years and that the development will eventually generate about $3 million in sales and property taxes annually, the Tennessean reports. The developer of the proposed project says it could be six weeks before the rezoning request comes up for final approval by the aldermen.
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