Kalamazoo County has approved a plan that would move its health department to Kalamazoo’s Edison neighborhood. County commissioners voted on Tuesday to buy three acres on East Alcott Street. The county intends to build a new facility on that land for Health and Community Services.
Currently the department rents space in Nazareth. Deputy County Administrator John Faul says that building is less than ideal for employees and for patients.
"The heating, air conditioning and ventilation is outdated. The elevators are slow. Whether it’s uninviting or not, that I can’t really say but I don’t think it’s really conducive to a modern health clinic," Faul says.
The land is part of the City of Kalamazoo’s brownfield program. Many of those properties need environmental work. But Faul says the county doesn't expect the land to need an extensive cleanup.
"It’s my understanding and especially working through the city and the brownfield authority of the city that the majority of the contaminants have been remediated and it’s more or less a buildable site. We have to do our due diligence," he says, noting that the county can opt out of the deal if it finds more contamination than it wants to clean up.
The county says it expects a move to Alcott Street would cost about $13 million. If the plan goes forward, the county expects the health department would move in no later than mid-2018.
