(Columbia) July 28, 2004 - The 178 acre Bull
Street site that used to house the State
Department of Mental Health isn't officially on
the market.
The money from the sale of the property is
already included in next year's state budget.
The property's drainage issues were up for
discussion at Wednesday's Columbia City Council
meeting. Columbia Mayor Bob Coble, "The state
has in the budget, apparently $32 million for
the sale of the property. We want to make sure
we're ready for a developer to purchase it for
whatever the price will be."
Mayor Coble recently met with the state
comptroller general, "He expressed a very clear
message that they were counting on the dollars
in the sale of that in the budget. I don't know
what the timing of that is, but it seemed to be
of some immediacy when I talked with him."
Any plan to sell the Bull Street property
would have to be approved by the Budget and
Control Board. Budget and Control spokesman Mike
Sponhour says it could happen as soon as the end
of the calendar year.
The way that it stands, if and when the prime
piece of real estate sells, not one cent of the
over $30 million price tag is slated to go back
to the Department of Mental Health or the people
that it serves.
Dave Almeida is a mental health advocate,
"The issue for some is about a piece of land the
city of Columbia wants, it's about a check the
state of South Carolina expects. For us, it's
about finding the best care for people with
mental illness."
One big area of
concern according to Almeida and the chief of
staff at the Department of Mental Health are the
55 children with mental illnesses still being
housed and treated on the Bull Street site.
Dr. Geoff Mason says one of the challenges in
finding the right facility for the children is
the kids range from two-years-old to adolescent
and need different levels of care, "These are
kids, I have kids, people watching have kids,
clearly we want to find the best placement for
them. To do otherwise we would not be doing our
jobs."
One alternative site being considered is in
northeast Columbia on property already owned by
the Department of Mental Health.
By Kara
Gormley
Posted 7:22pm by BrettWitt
