School board approves land sale for clinic

The School District 6 Board of Trustees recently approved the sale of 1.88 acres of land adjacent to Ruder Elementary School to North Valley Hospital for $230,000. The hospital plans to build a new clinic on the site.

A preliminary plan for the site on Talbott Road near Glacier Drive calls for an 8,700-square-foot building with room for expansion. The site is zoned CRA-1 residential, but permitted uses include medical and dental clinics and no public process is required, city manager Susan Nicosia has said in the past.

The board approved the sale at its September meeting and it was finalized Sept. 22. The vote was not without dissent. School board member Lyle Mitchell voted against the sale, claiming the land was undervalued. He also questioned sales comparisons used by the appraiser to determine the site’s market value.

This is not the first time the school district has sold property to a private health care firm. Several years ago, the district sold land to Bee Hive Homes for a senior living facility. Conditions were attached to that sale to protect the neighborhood, limiting what types of uses the land could be used for if resold.

The new clinic will replace the Professional Center on U.S. 2, which the hospital purchased several years ago.

The buy-sell agreement also provides the hospital with an option to purchase an additional 0.55 acres for expansion in the next 10 years.

North Valley Hospital spokeswoman Catherine Todd said the clinic will eventually house three physicians and two lower-level medical personnel, as well as nurses and support staff.

There are also ongoing discussions with the district to create a school-based clinic, but nothing has been finalized at this point.