In an e-mail to the Statesman Journal on Friday, Salem Mayor Janet Taylor said she accepts that the existing Oregon State Hospital campus along Center Street NE will be used for construction of a new psychiatric facility. She is dropping her call for state officials to shift the project to vacant state Department of Corrections land in southeast Salem.

“I recognize that it is unlikely that the location of the new facility will be moved,” Taylor wrote, “and in fact yesterday I found out the site in the southeast part of town will be reserved for a new Corrections facility. Therefore, I am accepting that the Center Street site will be used.

“However, I would certainly hope that the State will reconsider the size of the hospital at that site, preferably not more than 320 beds. If it were placed on the east end of the property, to the south off a Hawthorne Street extension, a smaller hospital would avoid dramatic impact to the historical buildings and alleviate the stress on Center St. traffic.

“Although any resident or organization has the right to file a lawsuit or appeal to LUBA

(Land Use Board of Appeals), I do not see that as a productive approach. We need new mental hospitals in Oregon, and I accept that one needs to be in Salem — just not so large. I also hope that they will build a 320-bed hospital to the north where several cities and counties are desperate for relief of the impacts on their medical emergency rooms and jails where they are dealing with drug addicts and mental crisis on a daily basis.

“We really do want to be part of the process of resolving the local issues and helping the State to get this built (300 beds) sooner rather than later.”

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