GILROY—Dreams of a walk-in health clinic for kids and parents on school grounds in one of the city’s poorest neighborhoods hit a snag this week, at least it looked that way till officials huddled, checked city zoning rules and cured the problem.
And while the anticipated July 1 opening of the Foothill Community Health Center at Glen View Elementary School on Eighth Street will be unexpectedly delayed, it will not be by too much, said Salvador Chavarin, Chief Executive Officer of Foothill.
He said it’s now a matter of getting blueprints finished and the city permit process completed once a formal application is submitted.
Ultimately, the clinic will offer basic medical services, including dental, and will refer to its other clinics for more complicated medical situations.
As envisioned by clinic and school officials, the health care facility will be readily available to students and serve as a walk-in clinic for families in the neighborhood in and around Eighth Street and beyond.
Foothill already operates a clinic next door to St. Louise Regional Hospital in Gilroy and at several high schools in the Bay Area, including in San Jose.
The Glen View site, two blocks from Gilroy High School, will be its first foray onto a Gilroy public school campus, and company officials say their ultimate goal is to have clinics in both Gilroy high schools, the other being Christopher High School.
“We are very excited about this and think it will serve a huge need,” Gilroy Unified School District Superintendent Debbie Flores said when school trustees approved the clinic in May and all eyes were on a July 1 opening.
“Establishing a health clinic is new to us, it’s unique,” Flores said at the time.
On Tuesday, after word came of a possible snag, GUSD and city officials held a phone conference to access the possible problem.
It was this: When the Dispatch made a routine status request on the project to the city, a week before its scheduled opening, a senior planning official reported not only that Foothill had not yet submitted a permit application but, more importantly, stated, “…health clinics would not be permitted at a school site.”
When that was conveyed to school official, a quick telephone conference was arranged and the difficulty was discovered, according to Lee Butler, the city’s Development Center Program Director.
Butler said that, under city law, hospitals and similar uses, such as clinics, are permitted in public facilities zoning districts, which includes schools.
At GUSD, the conference call with Butler produced good news for Flores.
“No work has begun at the site,” said. “My experience with many construction projects over the years is that there are usually unanticipated issues and delays. However, I think that
