Coalinga Press learned on the afternoon of September 26 that Adventist Health has withdrawn their application for a rezoning consideration to enable them to build a clinic in Coalinga. The planned clinic was to be built on the wedge of land on Forest Street between Seventh Street and Polk. Their plan required double the amount of space than already approved by Coalinga city code.
When Kelly Architecture and Planning presented the plans during a Coalinga planning Commission meeting last month, the public outcry of concern made a major strike against the zoning approval – at least among the majority of those present and those who voted against the amendment to zoning at the time.
Dr. Gurpreet Singh, director of American Advanced Management Group, was also present at that hearing. AAMG is the group contracted by Coalinga’s hospital board to revitalize and reopen Coalinga’s only hospital.
The contract between AAMG and CRMC allowed the team from AAMG to cancel their contract if another health provider opened any sizable clinic in the vicinity. The current plan is to have CRMC reopened by January 2020.
Coalinga residents have already been planning on another large demonstration of support for their local hospital rather than a clinic which would be open only from 8 AM – 5 PM five days a week. Each speaker offered their own story of how the hospital made an impact on their lives and the lives of family members and friends.
There are plenty of other issues on the agenda for the City Council meeting to be held on October 10. Although no one needs to make impassioned pleas to convince the council to vote any particular way, there are other items of interest which will be discussed.
