Dear editor,
Dr. Jim O’Neill’s presentation as a part of the McLaren Hospital review before our planning commission was another fine example of the medical-services leadership he has provided our community for more than four decades.
He explained the growth of his practices into a broad array of services and the plans for relocation and consolidation of medical services into his team’s new facility, proposed as a part of the McLaren campus. If the presentation had been just about his facility, the meeting could have been held at the library instead of the high school auditorium. Although it would mean empty offices left behind, the one-stop shopping of the new facility would have been a worthwhile trade-off.
However, the entire complex, including the hospital, presents other serious community challenges.
How can the intensity of the development be reduced, including the height which exceeds our long-standing restrictions by more than double.
Will McLaren pay for the many infrastructure improvements that this development will necessitate, as detailed by the township’s engineers?
Will McLaren provide assurances that its exemption from real and personal property taxes will be limited to the very core of the hospital and its core operations, so that McLaren will provide the tax revenue consistent with the value of its development and the significant impact it will have on the township for decades to come?
Can McLaren assure us that we will have a so-called level-two trauma center, so that all emergency services can be performed in our community?
If we are to have this hospital in our midst, which will draw from and serve the entire region, these essential questions must be answered with an unequivocal ‘yes.?
The man to get that done is Doc O’Neill. Only he can be our liaison to McLaren to convince them what more they must do to make this work. This accomplishment will expand his legacy beyond medical services as another contribution to maintaining Independence Township as a quality residential community of a livable scale.
Neil Wallace
Clarkston