By Kimberly McMillian
Correspondent
DAYTON, Tenn. – The state has turned down Life Care Centers of America Inc.’s application to build an 89-bed nursing home and assisted living facility in Dayton.
Life Care had planned to put the facility on 14.5 acres along Manufacturers Road off U.S. Highway 27.
In a telephone interview, Jim Christoffersen, deputy general counsel for the Tennessee Health Services and Development Agency, said the agency last week denied Life Care’s application to build its new facility in that “exact location.”
Christoffersen said the company may appeal within 15 days. He said Life Care also could choose another site and file another application, or abandon its plans.
In an e-mailed statement, Life Care spokesman Rob Alderman said the company “regrets but respects the decision” of the Health Services Development Agency.
“In addition to the construction impact, when completed, the facility was anticipated to provide 150 local jobs and more than $175,000 in city and county taxes,” Alderman said.
Life Care “has no future plans” for the facility at this time, he said.
Christoffersen said the application was reviewed thoroughly after concerns about patients’ welfare were expressed at hearings earlier this year in Dayton.
After a 6-4 vote, board members concluded the new facility wouldn’t “contribute to the orderly development of health care,” he said. The determination of need and economic feasibility were the other requirements that had to be established before the application was processed, he said.
Representatives of Cleveland, Tenn.-based Life Care and Rhea County residents were present at the Nashville meeting.
“The community was not against Life Care,” County Commissioner Bill Hollin said, but he noted that several nearby residents were concerned that the site is only 120 feet from railroad tracks where approximately 30 to 40 trains pass daily.
Other residents had expressed fears of flooding at the site.
After the meeting, resident John Fine said he had told the board his safety concerns about the location, as well.
“We (residents) want Life Care here, but that’s a bad location,” Fine said.
Kimberly McMillian is based in Rhea County. Contact her at kdj424@bellsouth.net.