The application for the Jamestown S’Klallam Tribe’s medication-assisted treatment (MAT) clinic is now with the City of Sequim’s planning staff.
Barry Berezowsky, director of community development, said he met with Brent Simcosky, Jamestown’s director of health services, for about an hour on Friday, Jan. 10, to go over the application for submittal.
He said the next step is to type a memo this week for a notice of application.
Read the application online at www.sequimwa.gov/471/Current-Projects.
What direction the application takes, whether decided in-house or through public process, is still to be determined.
Community members said at the Jan. 13 Sequim City Council meeting that they believe the city would choose an A-2 process, one in which city staff determine conditions and approval. They continue to advocate for a public process that allows for more community input and the possibility to change zoning where the facility is planned for on South Ninth Avenue.
If the process is determined as an A-2, community comments would be accepted for 22 days and another 14 days for the State Environmental Policy Act (SEPA) comment period.
City staff have 120 days from the notice of application to prepare the document for recommended changes and/or approval.
Simcosky said the application was turned in on a Friday because it had been scheduled with the city for two weeks.
“There’s no sneaky business,” he said.
City staff required the tribe to do a traffic impact analysis, Simcosky said, that they fast-tracked and turned in the day before the meeting.
“We were ready to turn in the application in December,” he said.
Changes
Simcosky said nothing really changed with the medication-assisted treatment facility since it was first discussed.
The size of the clinic grew to about 17,000 square-feet from 15,000, he said, to add space for dental care, child care, ease of flow, and more.
However, because state funding being reduced, Simcosky said they don’t plan to add a second phase for an inpatient psychiatric evaluation and treatment facility at this time.
Coffman Engineers, Design Review Application filed Jan. 10
Simcosky said the tribe plans to continue partnering with local agencies like Olympic Medical Center and Jefferson Healthcare.
The tribe received $7.2 million from the state’s capital budget application, and Simcosky estimates the tribe will invest $4 million of its own funds towards land and construction.
The tribe purchased 20 acres of land zoned for health care and other businesses on South Ninth Avenue in May 2018.
There are no pans for the extra acreage at this time, Simcosky said.
“We’re going to stick with this (and) see what the needs are in the community,” he said.
Treatment
The outpatient clinic, formerly the healing campus, will dispense daily doses of methadone, Suboxone and Vivitrol for opioid-use disorder and receive wrap-around services such as primary care health services, dental care and counseling services.
Simcosky reiterated that the clinic will only intake residents from Clallam and Jefferson counties for a maximum of 250 patients.
It will employ about 40 people, but Simcosky estimates they’ll intake about 120 patients in its first year open.
He said the intake process will take about two days.
“We want people to take in people who are serious about this,” Simcosky said.
More specs
If approved, tribal staff estimate construction for the MAT clinic from June 2020 to December 2021.
It’ll connect South Ninth Avenue to West Hammond Street and run to South Seventh Avenue.
Simcosky said three contracted security officers will monitor the parking lot and inside.
Shuttles for local residents will be offered too, but he said they’ll start slow.
“It’s hard to estimate where we’ll be in two years,” Simcosky said.
“Half or less will be brought in by transportation. One thing is, we’re not taking bus loads of people in from out of the area.”
Cost of permitting the project with the city was $18,595 for the design review and SEPA process, and $8,978 for the building permit.
Reach Matthew Nash at mnash@sequimgazette.com.
