If there were such a thing as the tenth circle of hell for parking, Coronado’s Prospect Place might qualify. On that block sit the Coronado Physician’s Medical Center, Villa Coronado (a long-term care facility), Coronado Retirement Village, and Sharp Coronado Hospital.
With the plethora of services in the area, parking is challenging — especially for the infirm and elderly. There are a limited number of street parking spaces. A larger parking lot for Medical Center physicians and patients is available, although it costs $3.00 to park in the lot, regardless of visit length.
The parking situation has been untenable, not only for patients and their family, but also for people in the neighborhood, for some time.
“Residents have been complaining about [the parking congestion] for years,” said Councilperson-elect Carrie Downey. Downey also serves as the city’s representative on the Coronado Hospital Foundation Board.
In the past few years Sharp Coronado has taken steps to alleviate the problem. Two years ago, the hospital struck a deal with Marriott to provide a valet service. The service is free to people visiting the hospital. The cost is paid for by Sharp Coronado out of its operating funds, said Nora Boswell, Director of Development for Coronado Hospital Foundation.
On average, about 30 people a day use the service, according to Aaron Martella, account manager for the service. Despite a signage for the valet station, many people do not seem to know about the service or avail themselves of it.
“They assume because its valet service it must cost,” Martella said. “People drive around, get frustrated and park several blocks away, only to learn when they get to the main entrance they could have dropped their car off at the front door and someone would have parked their car in the Marriott garage for free.”
And while the complementary valet has eased the problem, it hasn’t solved it.
Michael Dorn, a member of the Coronado Hospital Foundation Board recently stepped forward to help find a solution to the problem. Dorn became interested after the Sewell Healthy Living Center opened and finding parking became even more challenging.
“Here the hospital had this wonderful facility and people couldn’t get to it because there wasn’t enough parking, “Dorn said. He began by donating the money to pay for staff parking at the Marriott hotel, located a few blocks away from the hospital, for one year. There are now 50 spaces for hospital employees at the Marriott.
“Hospital staff used to have to park five or six blocks away,” he said. Because street parking on Prospect Place is limited to two hours, it was never an option for staff.
“He’s a wonderful, generous man,” Susan Stone, Sharp Coronado’s Senior Vice-President and Chief Executive Officer.
However, while Dorn says that the additional parking spaces have “made a huge difference,” he realizes much more needs to be done.
In September, the hospital representatives met with the city and received permission develop a feasibility study to look at a long-term solution to the parking problem. A Request for Proposals (RFP) has been sent out. “We expect to make a decision in December, ” Stone said.
Ideas that have been put forth include making Prospect Place a one-way street and opening a second hospital entrance on Soledad, Stone added. A parking structure seems like an obvious solution, and the hospital is exploring the idea, but according to Downey, it is not “a part of this plan.”
Solving the parking crunch “is a complicated process,” Dorn points out. “The land is leased and subleased to a number of entities.” Getting all those together and meeting various zoning requirements possess challenges. Even making Prospect Place a one-way street, which would alleviate some of the traffic congestion, requires city council approval, Downey points out.
“It’s a change to street usage and must confirm to the general plan or get approval for deviating.”
The process seems daunting, but Dorn is committed to seeing it through. He spent 45 years developing land and building homes in Minnesota and Arizona. Now retired, he’s brought his land use know how to the Hospital Foundation Board. “I’m used to working with city staff and going before city councils,” he said.
Finding a solution to the hospital’s parking problems is part of the hospital’s 2020 Campaign to improve the facilities at the hospital. It grew out of Owner Participation Agreement (OPA) the hospital and city entered into in 2005 and revised in 2006.
The OPA is a $17 million matching agreement between the Coronado Hospital Foundation and the City of Coronado to support capital improvements at Sharp Coronado Hospital. Under the terms of the agreement funds are matched 2:1 for every dollar donated to the foundation.
“If a person donates $100 to the foundation, the city will provided an additional $2,00,”Boswell explained.
When the agreement was formed, Sharp Coronado faced financial difficulties and the city stepped into save it. They were many reasons. Chief among them was need for access to emergency services. “It allows treatment in minutes if in an emergency ambulance could not depart Coronado via the bridge.”
The current feasibility study, and whatever plan emerges from it, will also be funded by the OPA. The Hospital Foundation hopes others will contribute for this as well as the employee parking and the complementary valet services.
In the past decade Sharp Coronado has given the city so much. It procured and maintained state-of-the-art medical services that not only benefit residents, but generate revenue for the hospital and our community,” Downey points out.
Efforts to improve parking are part of the same visionary process, Downey believes.
——–
Gloria Tierney
Staff Writer
eCoronado.com
