Washington Boards Approve Retirement Community Project For Abingdon

ABINGDON, Va. – The Washington County Planning Commission and Board of Supervisors both unanimously approved a rezoning and special exception permit Monday that will allow a continuing care retirement community near the new Johnston Memorial Hospital to move forward.

“It’s something the community needs, definitely,” Kenneth Reynolds, chairman of the Board of Supervisors, said after the meeting. “We’ve had a number of our senior citizens who’ve had to relocate because there was not anything available like this facility.”

Now, all that remains locally for the project to proceed is approval by the county staff of plans for the 120-bed nursing home, a 90-unit assisted living facility and 160 other senior living residences to ensure they meet regulations.

“We’re ecstatic,” said Hunter Smith, who represented Smith/Packett and Abingdon Health Investors LLC.

He said construction will begin when a certificate of need is issued by the state – likely early next year.

According to a timeline provided by Smith, the nursing home would be completed in early 2011, with assisted living completed in late 2012 and the rest of the project done in 2014.

Smith said the last nursing home built in Southwest Virginia was 15 years ago in Grayson County, and the region is due for another. The company has been involved in the project for three years, he said, and it was a lengthy process to get approval from the Virginia General Assembly for the allocation of nursing home beds here.

In a public hearing held during the joint meeting, two people spoke in favor of the project; no one spoke in opposition.

Lois Humphreys, an Abingdon town councilwoman and former mayor as well as a member of the project’s local advisory committee, said she has not heard one negative comment about the project.

“It’s been very positive in the response, and the feeling of the community is it’s definitely a need,” Humphreys said.

Mayor Ed Morgan said during the meeting that the town is equipped to provide sewer service to the community.

Joyce Bassham, a nurse who also serves as a member of the advisory board, said during the public hearing that she’s seen firsthand with family members how it’s an advantage to live in a community where the need for a greater degree of medical care doesn’t mean a move away from friends.

The Abingdon Town Council previously voted in support of the project, and the town has contracted to sell property to Smith/Packett for its development.

Also on Monday, an entity called Abingdon Health Care Center announced its intention to file a competing application for a certificate of need to build a 180-bed nursing home.

According to a news release from a public relations firm, the competing project would be developed in the same area by CareVirginia, whose existing properties include Valley Health Care Center in Chilhowie, Va.

The project would also include an assisted and independent living component, according to the release.

No one representing the project was present at Monday’s joint meeting.

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