Psychiatric Health Facility

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• When will the facility be opened?

  This facility is currently scheduled to open in Fall 2025. 

• Who will this facility serve?

  The facility will serve clients who need higher level psychiatric care than can be provided in an outpatient setting.

• Will facility beds be reserved for North County residents?

  People often get care closest to where they live and where they have their support system. While we anticipate most people treated at this facility will be North County residents, these services are accessible to anyone countywide who meets criteria for this level of care. 

• How will clients arrive at the facility?

  Patients requiring short-term, inpatient treatment at the PHF will be referred to and directly admitted to the facility from local Crisis Stabilization Units (CSUs) and emergency rooms. Clients will arrive at the facility via appropriate medical provider transportation, including emergency vehicles. 

• How can the facility be accessed?

  Access to the facility will be through the main vehicle and pedestrian access points to the Tri-City Medical Center campus on Vista Way and Thunder Drive. There will not be access through the adjacent neighborhoods. A fire access road will join Waring Road to the west and a locked gate will prevent vehicular and pedestrian traffic onto Waring Road.

• What happens to clients when they are released from the facility?

  After a short-term stay, clients will be connected to appropriate community-based care that best meets their unique needs. Services at the facility are designed to be seamlessly coordinated so that clients are fully supported and are proactively transitioned to the next appropriate level of care.

• Will people be dropped off at the facility via the Waring Road emergency exit? Also, why is there a sidewalk and gate for people at that emergency exit if there will not be foot traffic?

  No. Patients will all be transported to the facility via the Vista Way entrance. The gate will only be used in case of emergency and can only be opened by security personnel or the fire department. The sidewalk along Waring Road with an existing bus stop is just south of where the emergency entrance will be located. The existing sidewalk connects the neighborhood to the businesses at the bottom of the hill.

• Will there be a security service?

  As this is on the existing Tri-City Medical Center campus, there will be full security in accordance with existing and established protocols. 

• Will there be an increase in vehicle traffic?

  There is no anticipated increase in vehicle traffic. Clients will be admitted directly to the PHF via appropriate medical provider transportation, including emergency vehicles entering through the main vehicle access points to the Tri-City Medical Center’s campus on Vista Way and Thunder Drive. 

• What type of lighting will be used at the facility, and will it cause light pollution?

  Multiple types of lighting will be used, including pole lighting, stair lighting, and bollard lighting. All lighting is downward facing and will not be brighter than lights in the current parking lot. The lighting will not produce light pollution, and photometric studies concluded that light levels at the site will be 1 foot-candle or less. 

• Why was the northwest corner of the Tri-City campus chosen as the site for this facility? Why was it not put closer to the hospital?

  Several factors were considered in siting the project. Planners wanted to ensure the facility was in a location outside the immediate vicinity of the main hospital to give patients the proper environment for their care. Additionally, the parcel that the PHF is situated is a separate parcel from the rest of the parking lot. Electrical and sewer access is only possible from the parcel at the northwest corner, and it is against code to cross parcels to connect to these utilities. 

• What kind of fencing will the property have to ensure security and privacy?

  There will be an 8-foot-high steel tube fence surrounding the facility and parking lot. The building entrance is approximately 90 feet from the property line, and visitors will not be able to loiter in proximity to neighbors’ homes. There will also be a row of low trees on both the north and west ends of the property that allow light to get through but provide privacy on both sides. 

• Will trash trucks travel through the neighborhood and how will they access trash at the site?

  There is no reason for waste management trucks traveling through the neighborhood any more than they currently are. They will access the facility through the Vista Way entrance, as they currently do to service the hospital, and will not have access to the Waring Road emergency exit. 

• Will the facility attract homeless people? Who is responsible for people loitering around the facility?

  This is an enclosed, in-patient residential unit. Patients will be transported in and out through the Vista Way entrance. Additionally, this facility does not provide walk-up services, so there will not be any reason for people to loiter on the property. Tri-City has a full security team that works to protect the safety of the patients and people on Tri-City’s campus. They also work with law enforcement agencies to ensure this safety. 

• Why does this facility have to be in this general area?

  North County has had a significant decrease in psychiatric bed capacity. The County wants to ensure that mental health resources are available where they are needed so that people can get care in the community in which they live. This facility will allow people from North County to get care in North County.