Hayswood Hospital Cleanup and Redevelopment

[Chuck]

The City of Maysville has applied for an EPA Brownsfields Cleanup Grant for
use in ridding the Hayswood Hospital of hazardous material (asbestos, etc.).
In doing so, City officials are inviting questions, input, comments and even
letters of support in the hopes of gaining public support for the effort.

This is the heading of an email I received from the Chamber of Commerce. I talked to John Carpenter Executive Director of the Chamber today about this and his feelings were similar to mine.

We agreed that we would like your input on the topic as well. Here are some of the facts I know.

1. The old hospital has serious problems with asbestos and needs to be professionally cleaned by experts dealing with asbestos.

2. There are significant historical interests in this structure as well as serious emotional ties to the old hospital. Even though I was born at home, I myself had a brief stay at the facility and recall visiting many family members there.

3. The person that owns the building wants to renovate it and convert it to rental property but cannot afford the Million plus it would cost for the asbestos removal.

Now I believe the person that owns the building has approached the City for assistance in removing the asbestos removal. But am not 100% sure of the information I have.

Here is the copy of the letter I have to return to the Mayor but I really want you Vote and input to decide if I send it or rewrite it and send it based on all of our opinions. Remember this is a blanket form letter that is posted in it;s original format.

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Mayor David Cartmell
City of Maysville
216 Bridge Street
Maysville, KY 41056

Dear Mayor Cartmell:

{organization} fully supports the City’s efforts in the cleanup and redevelopment of the Old Hayswood Hospital building. We recognize that the old hospital has had a negative impact on the surrounding neighborhood for many years and that redevelopment will act as a catalyst for revitalization of the entire neighborhood.

The City’s success in keeping and adding jobs to the downtown employment base has created a need for additional housing in the downtown area. Proximity to the work site has become more important as we all see the need to conserve energy to control escalating costs. We need to create more opportunities for walk or bike-to-work commutes and we need to increase our use of the public transportation system. Redevelopment of the old hospital site answers these needs and can contribute to the creation of a sustainable urban neighborhood.

As stated above, {organization} fully supports the City’s efforts in this project and would like to be included as a Community Partner in the redevelopment of the old Hayswood Hospital site.



Sincerely,

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Tell me your thoughts and as a community we will mail our input and response.

[kcredden]

Great post, Chuck. I fully support this myself. The few times I was taken to the hospital as a wee baron was to it. (My clearest memories was taken there with my foot sliced wide open (ouch :)) But yes, I think it needs totally redone and converted into something positive for the entire down-town area. Apartments would be nice, but even a business too would be acceptable. Anything done that will help, will be supported by me.

[ruby1968]

Its about time something is gonna be done with the hayswood hospital. I've been getting into the history of maysville recently and have found out many uses this historic landmark has had. I fully agree with kcredden anything would be better than the way it is now. I hope everything works out with this.

[rock]

I agree with you that something needs to be done about hayswood. But I feel tax payers shouldn't foot the bill. The person who owns it should and if they cant afford they should be made to sell. Tax dollars get get spent foolishly in this town. City should buy this and clean it up for apartments or something proftitable and use money to keep our local parks.

[annie]

My mother, myself, siblings, and three of my children were born there...... My grandmother and aunt worked there for years....So, yes, I have emotional ties to Hayswood.

As far as clean-up, I agree something needs to be done. It's heartbreaking to see the ol' girl looking as she does now. If I remember correctly, when it was closed and sold originally, it was to be turned into apartments (?) and that the city didn't purchase it because of the $$ needed to update its problems. How long ago was that-1983?

As far as taxpayers $$ going to fix the problems, it really doesn't matter what level of government assistance the owner(s) receive, it will originate from tax revenue of some kind. If donations were received, this would still be true unless 100% was funded by interested individuals/businesses. I believe that it should be put to some beneficial use. Afterall, there has been an ongoing overhaul of the downtown area for quite some time.

I do hope something is decided and soon. Besides looking awful, it is in such a dilapidated state it is quite dangerous. I personally would rather see my tax money go to something local and tangible such as Hayswood than some of the uses it goes to now.

(Yes, I did vote, so I can gripe!)

[Chuck]

From what I hear and this could be rumor. The Lady the bought up all the old schools and converted them to Apartments is the same one that owns Hayswood.

The confusion in the rumor is that supposedly she already had the money to do the clean up and then used it for something else. Like I said that is a rumor.

The City is between a rock and a hard place. We need to get this cleaned up for safety reasons but also after the million or about that much is forked out on the project. We, The City, don't own the property or have a say in the development of the property. A grant will be used to flip the bill for the clean up. That is if they can get the grant.

The next City Commissioners meeting is the 16th of December. I plan to attend so that I can gather more information that will be factual.