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Shaping our future - Veterans nursing home progresses, no funding yet
St. Lucie News Tribune - 1/21/2017
PORT ST. LUCIE – State veterans officials are moving forward with plans for a long-delayed nursing home here, even though they still lack the funding needed for the $58.9 million project.
Plans for the 112-bed, 123,000-square-foot Ardie R. Copas State Veterans Nursing Home were approved by the city Site Plan Review Committee earlier this month, but state officials have yet to receive the project's funding from the federal government.
Construction of the facility – on the south side of Southwest Tradition Parkway, across from the Brennity at Tradition retirement community – was to begin in January 2016 and be completed by 2018, but a sudden change in construction guidelines stalled, and potentially jeopardized, the project. The more expensive set of guidelines, not officially communicated to the states by the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, boosted the cost from $39 million to $58.9 million.
The presidential transition further delayed any funding announcement, state officials learned late last year. It's unclear, however, why the transition delayed funding, and state officials remain unsure when an announcement on funding wouldhappen, state Communications & External Affairs Director Steve Murray said Friday.
Submittal of a site plan before receiving funding wasn't premature, he said.
"We hope to have a plan approved and ready to go when our funding stream is approved," Murray said.
Murray said he is confident the home will receive the money it needs.
"We fully anticipate building the Ardie R. Copas State Veterans Nursing Home," Murray said.
The plan approved on Jan. 11 depicts four named "neighborhoods" where veterans would be housed: America, Liberty, Freedom and Patriot. Each private room has its own bathroom, and half of the rooms can accommodate veterans with Alzheimer's disease and dementia, Murray said.
The site plan will go to the City Council for final approval, city officials said Friday.
The facility – the seventh veterans nursing home in Florida – is expected to serve the Treasure Coast and beyond, treating veterans from St. Lucie, Martin, Indian River, Okeechobee and Highlands counties. Its coverage area would extend into parts of Brevard, Glades, Polk, Palm Beach, Hendry and Osceola counties.
That area is home to an estimated 280,000 of Florida's 1.5 million veterans. Currently, there are no long-term veterans nursing homes within 75 miles of the Treasure Coast.