Fair Haven Health Clinic Expansion OK’d

A Fair Haven neighborhood-anchoring healthcare center won permission to build 26 new clinical exam rooms — along with a food pharmacy, community space for job and digital literacy training, and a splash pad — all as part of a now-approved expanded Grand Avenue campus.

Fair Haven Community Health Care received that go-ahead from the City Plan Commission last Wednesday during the local land-use board’s latest monthly meeting. 

The commissioners signed off on the neighborhood-based healthcare organization’s bid to construct a brand new clinic building on Grand Avenue to support growing services currently hosted out of its health center next door. The site plan that the clinic won approval for concerns the properties at 362, 372, 374, 382, 388, 390 and 394 Grand Ave. and 81, 83, 85 and 87 Woolsey St.

The commission took three unanimous votes last Wednesday that granted the healthcare group a slate of city approvals needed to proceed with their long-planned, multi-component overhaul of those properties along Grand Avenue and Woolsey Street.

The clinic expansion project will see Fair Haven Community Health Care knock down a mixed-used complex at 384 Grand Ave. that currently has a pharmacy, pizza place and five apartments. The healthcare center will plant a line of trees and build a second clinic to supplement Fair Haven Health’s existing headquarters at 374 Grand Ave. The project will also see the demolition of three Woolsey Street houses to accommodate extensive surface parking.

The organization had already received permission to expand its site parking months back — read more about that here. The new approvals courtesy of the City Plan Commission include a special permit to build a healthcare center in a BA‑1 zone, which is defined as area set aside for neighborhood development and mixed-use business; a special permit to allow use of space measuring over 5,000 square feet in the BA‑1 zone; and overall site plan approval for the construction of that new clinic and general site improvements. 

Fair Haven Community Health Care President Suzanne Lagarde said on Wednesday the new clinic and campus growth is necessary for the organization to grow its commitment to the Fair Haven community and offer a wider range of services. 

She said that since she came to her current job in 2013, the clinic has ​“increased the type of services we provide, most notably adding substance abuse treatment, dental services, and intensive case management.” She noted that the clinic served over 32,000 unique patients last year, 90 percent of whom are minorities and 90 percent of whom have incomes under 200 percent of the federal poverty level. ​“While we are immensely proud of what we can offer to our community,” she said, ​“the truth is that we have run out of space to continue to grow.”

During the City Plan Commission meeting, developers of the site provided fresh insight as to exactly what the site will look like and offer once constructed.

Will Walter, the project’s engineer, said that the designers of the campus placed an ​“emphasis on place making — we want to make this a place that people in the community are drawn to and want to gather… it’s all been designed to create a sense of arrival.”

Floor plans for that anticipated clinic show the first and second floors include 13 exam rooms each in addition to dedicated behavioral health and counseling space and conference rooms. The third floor will include an outdoor patio, classrooms and multipurpose rooms to support expanded services like job training programs, digital literacy classes, and English as a second language instruction, and a food pharmacy.

That food pharmacy drew special attention from commissioners Wednesday night.

Asked to explain what a food pharmacy is, Lagarde described it as a ​“somewhat novel concept” that allows providers to prescribe patients ​“a complement of healthy foods” while providing instruction about how to cook and prepare basic ingredients. For example, someone with diabetes may be granted a ​“food prescription” wary of carbohydrate content.

In addition, a newly developed outdoor area will include not just the creation of new parking spaces, but a fenced-in, private pocket park extending towards James Street along with a splash pad that will operate during the summer. 

“Community members want a space that honors their childhood memories of beautiful gardens and mosaics and art, and lots of color,” said Marible Martinez, a Fair Haven Health patient and board member during the public testimony portion of the meeting. ​“They want it to be inclusive of efforts for preventative care, space for cooking demonstrations, informational health sessions and group meetings… our goal is to transform the Fair Haven Community Health Center into a campus that advances health care in our community and helps to eliminate health disparities, and represents a culture of compassion, safety and hope.”

In addition to enthusiastic public comment, commissioners themselves gushed over the project.

Commissioner Adam Marchand said that one concern about letting a single organization expand to such an extent in that area of Fair Haven is that it could potentially ​“put a damper on the vibrant, commercial and cultural district that is Grand Avenue.” And yet, he said that from his perspective Fair Haven Health is actually ​“an anchor institution in this area that contributes significantly to the life of the community… it is very much part of the fabric of the community in Fair Haven.” 

“I’m really trying to restrain myself with the excitement about what it is you’re doing,” Commission Chair Leslie Radcliffe said. ​“What you’re adding to the Fair Haven community as well as the city is just tremendous, from the services that you offer to hiring local workforce to the amenities you provide… that food pharmacy is what really got me.”