County commissioners assist in Centre Crest parking woes
County commissioners amended their agenda Tuesday and approved two motions that they hope will bring some parking relief at the Centre Crest care facility.
The issue of parking arose during a presentation by members of the Centre Crest board of directors highlighting the success of the facility since its transition to nonprofit status in November 2013. Board Vice Chairman Larry Bickford commended the commissioners on their choice of board members, which ensured the success of the facility.
“Had the commissioners not appointed the members they appointed, recommended the movement to nonprofit and established our financial platform, we would not be here today,” Bickford said.
Centre Crest administrator Lori Jamison highlighted the growth within the facility, noting that the number of full- and part-time staff has increased from 280 to 300 since 2013. Centre Crest employee turnover has stayed low at 47 percent — below the industry standard of 65 to 70 percent.
The daily census, or number of residents cared for on a daily basis, has continued to grow as well, she said, from 201 in 2013 to 228 as of September.
The census is important to daily operations, Bickford said, as more residents equals more revenue gained. More residents also means more expenses, he added.
The facility itself has gone through some upgrades, Chairwoman Betsy Boyer said, including new sitting rooms for residents and visitors, a “Snoozelean” room for agitated residents and a serenity room for residents approaching the end of their lives.
The goal is this is these people’s home, and we want it to reflect as their home.
Betsy Boyer
A recent marketing study confirmed that a new or different facility will be needed in the future, she said. The board has begun looking at what the facility will have to be in order to provide the services residents expect for the 21st century, including Wi-Fi and computer access.
The biggest push for the upcoming year, Bickford said, is for parking enhancement, as increasing numbers of staff and residents has put a considerable crunch on available parking.
As we have grown, we’re hearing that family members come visit, there’s no place to park, they leave. We have volunteers who come in, there’s no place to park, so they leave.
Betsy Boyer
Bickford asked that the commissioners consider a zoning change and funding for a parking expansion project.
An adjoining parcel of land was consolidated into the Centre Crest lot about eight months ago, board member Al Jones said, noting that the parcel is zoned differently than the parcel containing the actual facility.
Centre Crest’s parcel is zoned R-2, he said, while the adjoining lot is zoned R-4. The adjoining parcel is suitable for parking, he said, but a lot is not a permitted use in an R-4 zone.
The first step in creating additional parking would be to have the parcel rezoned to R-2, he said. A new lot would add 65 additional spaces of parking, and could also address a known stormwater issue affecting nearby residents of the facility.
The new lot would include a stormwater plan that included a detention basin with a pipe system, he said. The pipe would carry water out to Wilson Street and connect with the borough’s stormwater system.
The proposal is estimated to cost about $275,000, he said. Once the rezoning is complete, a full land development plan can be prepared.
Since the land is county land, the county must approach the borough and initiate the zoning change, he said.
Vice Chairman Chris Exarchos made the motion to amend the agenda and added a motion to approach the borough in rezoning the parcel. He made a second motion that $275,000 be allocated from the 2016 capital budget toward a parking addition to Centre Crest pending the resolution of the state budget impasse and successful rezoning.
Both motions passed unanimously.
Jeremy Hartley: 814-231-4616, @JJHartleyNews
This story was originally published November 24, 2015 at 7:48 PM with the headline "County commissioners assist in Centre Crest parking woes."