HOULTON, Maine — The town’s Planning Board expressed concerns with traffic Tuesday evening regarding a proposal by Katahdin Valley Health Center to build a new $10-$20 million health care facility in Houlton.
During a public hearing for review of KVHC’s development plans, several planning board members expressed deep concern with how traffic would flow into the proposed facility, located at 121 North St.
The North Street property is currently owned by the Putnam Family Trust and consists of a 154.5-acre parcel of land and a two-story residence built in 1917 that has been vacant for a number of years.
Claudette Humphrey, CEO for Katahdin Valley Health Center, stated KVHC has not yet purchased the parcel of land as that acquisition is based on the company’s ability to receive town approval for the project.
KVHC plans to demolish the existing building, known as the Putnam House, and to construct a new 54,000-70,000 square foot, two-story medical/dental facility on the site, with parking for 250 vehicles.
To access the property, developers proposed constructing an entrance at the traffic light at the Houlton Shopping Center, essentially making that a four-way intersection.
A second entrance would be located to the south, near the McDonald’s facility. That second entrance is what concerned planning board members the most as that section of town is already one of the most congested areas.
“The major feedback we received from department heads is that we already have a bit of a traffic problem there with McDonald’s,” said planning board chairman Kip Swallow. “Anyone who lives here, knows that on a good day there are cars out into the street waiting to get in to the drive thru. It is a congested area.”
Board member Sue Tortello, who is the town council representative for the board, said she was reluctant to go too far in granting permission for the project without a thorough analysis of the traffic flow by the Maine Department of Transportation.
“That is the major sticking point,” she said. “I think this is a wonderful use for this property and a service that is badly-needed in this town. Because of the traffic, I am very reluctant to go too much farther with this.”
Humphrey said she would be speak with MDOT officials to begin the process of having a traffic study initiated, but was hoping the board would give an official vote on the plan so KVHC could go ahead with its purchase of the land.
Every member of the planning board expressed support for the project and suggested drafting a letter stating that support. However, they also said they could not give a formal vote to the plan at Tuesday’s meeting.
Humphrey explained the reason a new health care facility was needed was that they have simply outgrown their current operation in Houlton.
“As we have grown, we have needed more room,” Humphrey said. “We have grown substantially over the last two years, seeing about 170 new patients every month. We are at max-capacity inside the (Houlton) building.”
Since the project is only in the conceptual stage, no building designs were presented to the planning board.
The Houlton location opened nearly 15 years ago, with a major expansion taking place in 2011 to accommodate an increased customer base. In 2016, the clinic purchased two abutting properties and had those buildings razed to expand parking at the center. And in 2017, yet another renovation took place to increase exam rooms and check-in stations for patients.
KVHC has clinics in Houlton, Patten, Millinocket, Brownville and Ashland, serving 14,000 patients annually. The Houlton facility offers a wide variety of services including health care, chiropractic services, dental hygiene, physical therapy, massage therapy and a pharmacy.
Humphrey said many of the doctors and nurses are doubled-up sharing offices.
“What that is causing is a flow issue,” she said. “Patients can not get timely appointments and that is a huge barrier for us.”
She added that KVHC has physicians who want to join the organization’s team in Houlton, but there is no space to put them.
The current waiting room is another area of concern, Humphrey said, as the room often has both those patients who are ill that are seeking walk-in care sitting in the same room as healthy people who are coming for dental appointments.
“We would really like to seperate those groups so that those who are healthy, stay healthy,” she said.
The pharmacy, which was added to Houlton two years ago, also is undersized for the volume it is seeing and lacks a drive-thru option.
All services provided in the current facility at 59 Bangor St. would be relocated to the new facility. As a federally-qualified health center, KVHC receives federal grant money to aid with operational expenses. However, Humphrey said that no federal grant funds would be used for the construction of the new facility. Instead, the project would be funded entirely by KVHC.
The planning board is expected to revisit the application request once additional data from MDOT is made available.
