QuickTake:

The 4-1 vote, with Commission Chair David Loveall opposed, came amid concerns that the county could have been more engaged with Springfield officials before its decision, which puts the facility in the city’s urban growth boundary. 

Lane County commissioners approved a $7.8 million purchase agreement for land that will serve as the future site of the Lane Stabilization Center. 

The agreement is part of a larger plan the county has with PeaceHealth to serve the region’s behavioral health needs. 

The land, located on two parcels totaling nearly 18 acres, will include a psychiatric hospital that PeaceHealth is planning, and the county’s stabilization center for people in an immediate mental health or addiction crisis. The cumulative effect will be a behavioral health campus that can serve patients, connecting them with long-term services near PeaceHealth Sacred Heart Medical Center at RiverBend in Springfield. 

Commissioners voted 4-1 Tuesday, July 29, to approve the agreement, with commission Chair David Loveall opposed. Loveall said he supports the project, but wanted to delay the vote until Aug. 26 to give the county time for more meetings, including with Springfield city officials to air any outstanding concerns, including issues such as traffic. The project site along International Way is in the city’s urban growth boundary. 

Before the vote, Loveall and other county commissioners acknowledged they can step up efforts to be more engaged with Springfield city leaders. 

“I’m asking just for a few more weeks, just so that we can properly engage the folks that right now are still feeling a little bit hurt by the sledgehammer they felt was over the top of their heads,” Loveall said, adding his intent was to vote “yes” on the project after a delay for more engagement with Springfield. 

All county officials, including Loveall, praised what the stabilization center will provide Lane County. The 24-hour center, when built and opened, will be able to help people who arrive with no appointment. Police will be able to send people there for mental health care instead of a jail. 

“I understand greatly and deeply how this facility will save lives,” Loveall said, adding that he lost a son to suicide three years ago.

Other county commissioners who moved the vote forward said the engagement and communication with Springfield and neighboring property owners still could continue after approving the purchase agreement. Other work, including the project design and construction work, is tentatively slated to last until October 2028. 

“The best move forward is to ensure that we are really good partners with the city of Springfield,” Commissioner Heather Buch said before the vote. 

One sore point between the county and Springfield officials emerged in Salem during this year’s legislative session, according to county officials.

During the session, a provision was put in House Bill 2005 that allows stabilization centers like Lane County’s to bypass city-required special use permits and plan amendments. That provision was just a sliver of a larger bill about the state’s civil commitment process.

“I handled some very heated phone calls from our partners in Springfield, and I think we can be better partners with working with them, letting them know what’s coming down the pipeline,” Commissioner Ryan Ceniga said.

The county will seek to annex the land into the city of Springfield. 

Through a spokesperson, Springfield Mayor Sean VanGordon declined an interview request, as he didn’t want to comment on a project that will still come before Springfield due to the pending annexation decision.

PeaceHealth employees and physicians urged county officials to approve the deal, saying that building the psychiatric hospital and the stabilization center next to each other will improve care and reduce the strain on the RiverBend’s emergency room.

Dr. Adam Burch, medical director for inpatient behavioral health services at PeaceHealth, said the center will provide invaluable services.

“We’re doing our best, but we need this space,” Burch told commissioners. “Lane County needs this space. Our communities need this space.”

Ben Botkin covers politics and policy in Lane County. He has worked as a journalist since 2003, most recently at the Oregon Capital Chronicle, where he covered justice, health and human services and documented regional efforts to combat fentanyl addiction. Botkin has worked in statehouses in Idaho, Nevada, Oklahoma and, of course, Oregon. When he's not working, you'll find him road tripping across the West, hiking or surfing along the Oregon Coast.