Salem Community Vision
Active citizens supporting community involvement, prosperity, and fiscal responsibility
Save ancient trees and historic Howard Hall
(Updated February, 2015)
What is happening with the former Oregon School for the Blind property?
Salem Hospital purchased the 8.3 acre Oregon School for the Blind property from the State of Oregon in 2010 for $6 million. Their plan is to build an outpatient rehabilitation center, a hospitality house, and a 264 space surface parking lot on the site.
All the former School for the Blind buildings have been demolished except for Howard Hall, which is a designated Salem historic resource. Howard Hall served as a dormitory and is precious in the memory of thousands of blind Oregonians who spent part of their childhood there. It was constructed in 1923 and designed by John Bennes, one of the most accomplished early 20th century architects in Oregon. Bennes is most known for the many buildings he designed at Oregon State University. Howard Hall is the only Bennes building in Salem.
In 2013 Salem Hospital issued a Request for Proposals (RFP) to find a developer who might be willing to renovate and repurpose Howard Hall. The deadline for proposals was only one month and many of the requirements seemed unreasonable to many observers. Many have questioned whether the RFP was issued in good faith.
The Hospital received no responses to the RFP and immediately moved forward with plans to demolish Howard Hall. The Hospital applied to the City of Salem for a demolition permit. This was considered by the City’s Historic Landmarks Commission that held extensive hearings on the matter in the spring of 2014 and took hours of testimony.
They voted 6-0 to deny the application because the Hospital failed to prove that their plan to build an adaptive playground for children on the site of Howard Hall had more value than preserving the historic landmark, and the Hospital failed to prove that Howard Hall could not be repurposed in a way that would provide an economic benefit to the Hospital.
Instead of waiting for Salem Hospital to appeal the Historic Landmarks Commission (HLC) decision, the Salem City Council, in a move that smacked of favoritism, called up the HLC decision and after two public hearings unanimously overruled it in July. In September, Beverly Rushing, a Salem citizen and a member of the American Council of the Blind of Oregon, who is a former student at the Oregon School for the Blind, submitted an intent to appeal the City Council decision to the Oregon Land Use Board of Appeals (LUBA).
At the same time the fate of Howard Hall was being decided, Salem Hospital applied for and was granted a variance from City staff to remove nine "significant" Oregon white oak trees (24" in diameter or more) from the site as part of their plan to remove over 40 trees and grade the site for a 264 space surface parking lot.
The South Central Association of Neighbors (SCAN), the neighborhood association whose boundaries include the site, filed an appeal of this decision, pointing out that the 264 parking spaces that would cover most of the 8.3 acre property is 87 more than the maximum allowed for the site under City codes. Salem Hospital argued that they are allowed more spaces because they own the adjacent property and it can be used to calculate the maximum spaces allowed. On this interpretation, their entire campus, including the School for the Blind property, does not exceed the maximum. SCAN also appealed the lack of bike and pedestrian facilities on Mission Street in the Hospital site plan. In late August the City Hearings Officer ruled in favor of Salem Hospital. As of this writing, SCAN then appealed the decision to LUBA.
In late December, LUBA ruled against Beverly Rushing and in favor of Salem Hospital and the City on the destruction of Howard Hall. As of this writing, Rushing is pursuing an appeal to the Oregon Court of Appeals. In early January, LUBA ruled in favor of SCAN and remanded the issue of the oversized parking lot and the variance permitting the clear-cutting of significant Oregon white oak trees to the City Hearings Officer. As of this writing the Hearings Officer has yet to act on the remand.
What should be done with the Oregon School for the Blind property?
The reality is that Salem Hospital can achieve all of its development objectives for the property while preserving a Salem historic landmark and most of the ancient trees on the site.
The 8.3 acre site can easily accommodate the new outpatient rehabilitation facility, the hospitality house, and an adaptive playground, while preserving Howard Hall, the Oregon white oaks, and other significant trees. The site plan that the Hospital is pursuing, designed by a Portland architect, simply is a poor design that does not make a serious attempt to preserve the natural and man-made features of the site which should be preserved. Fifteen large Douglas firs, Oregon white oaks, and other ancient trees have already been logged on the site, and grading/excavation is underway that may prove fatal to the significant trees that are left.
Salem Hospital needs to compromise with its neighbors by doing two things: (1) Reissue the RFP for the reuse of Howard Hall in a way that gives ample time for potential developers to put together proposals and provides reasonable requirements that will attract potential development. (2) Go back to the drawing board and develop a site plan that preserves all the remaining trees that are targeted for removal in the current plan. The hospital's own arborist recommended that only one of the significant Oregon white oaks on the site be removed. The remaining trees are in good health and with proper care, can and should be preserved.
What can I do to save the ancient trees and preserve Howard Hall?
You can write to the CEO of Salem Hospital, Norm Gruber. Urge him to compromise with the neighbors and the blind community to save the ancient trees and preserve Howard Hall.
You can write to Bob Wells, who chairs the Board of Trustees of Salem Hospital. Tell him that the policy-making Board has a responsibility to review the staff decisions to determine if they are in the best interests of Salem Hospital and the Salem community.
You can write to the Salem City Council. Tell them they need to reconsider their decision to allow the demolition of historic Howard Hall. They also need to review the City staff decision to allow the destruction of significant Oregon white oak trees on the site.
We need an outpouring of citizen concern expressing the strong opinion that in Salem we don't tear down our historic landmarks, and we don't clear cut ancient Oregon white oaks.
Please do your part and make your voice heard.