St. Joe County floats site near Darden Road for Portage Manor facility
, 2022-11-01 04:15:12,
St. Joseph County officials say a potential partnership with a South Bend senior living center is the leading solution to the problem of where to relocate residents of Portage Manor health care facility.
The St. Joseph County Board of Commissioners paid Fort Wayne firm MKM Architecture $25,000 in May to run a “feasibility study” for a new Portage Manor site. The architect Dodd Kattman is considering the Healthwin site, which sits on county land off Darden Road just east of the St. Joseph River, for possible new construction.
Board President Carl Baxmeyer said the architect and county leaders met with Healthwin officials to gauge their interest in expanding the facility’s services to include assisted and independent living. The 153-bed center offers 24-hour care and rehabilitation services for older residents, with stay durations ranging from less than a month to years.
The feasibility study’s results are expected by the beginning of December and will be made public, Baxmeyer said.
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Plans for Clay Township Park
In response to confusion among Clay Township residents at a Thursday night meeting, Baxmeyer held a press conference Friday to clarify the purpose of an agreement between the county and the township to be voted on this week.
The county plans to sell Clay Township Park, which is just north of Healthwin, to Clay Township for a nominal fee, rather than continue to lease it to the township. The park sits on 45 acres and features sporting fields, a disc golf course, a playground and walking trails along the river.
New health facility housing would not be built at the park, but directly to its south.
“We are continuing with the plan to turn the ownership of this land from the county to the township to ensure that this remains a park for as long as the township wants it to be a park,” Baxmeyer said.
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Sean O’Brien, a Clay Township Board member, said during the press conference that he worries new construction to the south could degrade the quality of the Clay Township Park.
A swath of trees separates Healthwin from the park. O’Brien said the MKM architect recently proposed they could be cut down to make room for new housing.
“If those woods were going to be cut down, like the architect suggested that they would be,” he said, “that would diminish the beauty of this park and it…
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