New clinic proposed in Abby
Planned medical facility to provide direct primary care
Plans for a new medical clinic between McDonaldâs and OâReillyâs Auto Parts will be reviewed by Abbotsfordâs planning commission on Thursday.
According to a proposed developerâs agreement between the city and Doctors Care Medical Clinic, LLC, the owner of the clinic will pay the city $17,500 for a .73-acre lot just south of the new Opportunity Drive off STH 13. The city will then provide $17,500 worth of title insurance for the property and install water, sewer and storm sewer utilities for the new development.
In exchange, the owner of the clinic, Dan Hannula, will agree to construct a building worth at least $500,000 no later than Dec. 31, 2021.
Because the land is located within a TIF district, the taxes paid on the new clinic will be used to reimburse the city for its share of the development costs. The developerâs agreement ensures that the clinic owner will pay âguaranteed tax increment revenueâ starting in 2022.
If the annual property tax payment falls below what the city would normally get for a $500,000 assessment, the developer agrees to make up the difference.
The city also has the option of re-purchasing the property if construction of the clinic is not completed by the end of 2021. In this scenario, the city would pay the developer $1 plus the fair market value of any improvements made.
This option is also available to the city if construction work at the clinic site ceases for 90 consecutive days.
Also, if the developer decides to sell the land to another party, it must first obtain written permission from the city if the property would be rendered âexempt from property taxation.â If the city has not yet recouped its development costs at that point, the developer will still need to make its tax increment payments unless the city releases that obligation.
The agreement will remain in effect until Sept. 21, 2036, which is when the TIF is scheduled to close. If either the city or the developer defaults on the agreement, the other party is entitled to recover its financial damages through legal means.
Any delinquent tax increment payments from the developer will accrue annual 18 percent interest.
The city purchased the vacant lot north of McDonaldâs in 2018, at a cost of $240,000. The entire parcel was 1.25 acres, but about half of that was used to construct Opportunity Drive, a road that is set to extended to the west into the cityâs future industrial park.
âDirect primary careâ
Hannula, owner of DI, LLC in Abbotsford, said the facility heâs planning to build would be whatâs called a âdirect primary careâ clinic, offering people basic medical services for a monthly membership fee. His goal is to get the lowest membership fee down to $60 per month, with discounts being offered to business owners who bring in groups of employees. Walk-in patients would also be accepted, he said.
People will still likely need to have catastrophic (high-deductible) insurance to cover surgeries and other major medical treatments not available at the clinic, he said.
The 2,500-square-foot building would initially be used for basic medical visits, but Hannulaâs longterm plan is to also offer physical and occupational therapy, along with dental and vision care.
Hannula said he got the idea from his wife, a doctor at the state prison in Stanley, which uses a similar model for treating inmates. Direct primary care clinics are proving to be one of the most cost-effective ways of providing basic medical are, he said.
âTheyâre all over the place, and theyâre growing fast,â he said.
More details of the proposed clinic will be provided at Thursdayâs planning commission meeting, which starts immediately after a 5 p.m. public hearing on the rezoning of lots in the Schilling subdivision to make way for two more apartment buildings.
If the commission approves the developerâs agreement, it will then go to the city council for final approval at a meeting scheduled for later the same night.
City administrator Dan Grady said the proposal was first discussed in closed session during a planning commission meeting on March 16.