Page 8/The Sun and News, Saturday, March 16, 2024Prep work begins for Pine Rest
Pediatric Center amidst concern
over spike in public safety calls
James Gemmell
Contributing Writer
Site preparation has begun
for the construction of the
Pediatric Behavioral Health
Center on the Pine Rest
Christian Mental Health
Services campus.
Pine Rest is located at 300
68th St. SE in the Cutlerville
area of Gaines Charter
Township. It is one of the five
largest behavioral health pro-
viders in the United States.
The 74,000-square-foot
Pediatric Center will be built
on the southeast corner of the
sprawling 220-acre campus,
near Madison Avenue and
72nd Street. It will occupy 25
acres, with 66 inpatient beds
and medical offices compris-
ing another 61,000 square feet.
The $86 million facility is
scheduled to open in the spring
of 2026, but some neighbors
have expressed concerns about
the visual and wildlife impact
of the project, as well as traffic
and parking.
However, the Gaines
Township Planning
Commission voted last
October to approve the proj-
ect’s site plan, which would
have been allowed by right
under the township’s zoning
ordinance anyway because the
Pine Rest property is zoned
under the Office-Service (O-S)
designation. It conforms with
the township’s master plan.
Residents Tim and Jan
Olexa sent the Sun & News an
email saying several trees had
been cut down near their home
that they thought would be left
standing.
“As it stands, we are now
able to see the likes of build-
ings on Pine Rest property
which are 500 feet away that
had not been visible for at least
the last 25 years,” the couple
said.
The planning commission
granted approval for the con-
struction of the Pediatric
Center on the condition that
the visual impact on the adja-
cent neighborhood would bereduced by buffering with
trees and shrubs along the
roadway.
Project consulting company
Nederveld & Associates sub-
mitted a revised site plan to
eliminate some of the visual
concerns about the develop-
ment. More trees and other
plantings were added and some
originally proposed parking
spaces were eliminated.
Still to be addressed, how-
ever, are concerns about
mounting public safety calls to
the Pine Rest campus. In
February, Kent County
Sheriff’s Deputy Jason
VanderMolen read a report
documenting a dramatic
increase in the number of ser-
vice calls to Pine Rest that
deputies and firefighters have
had to respond to recently.
“Therein lies the concern
with the growth that they’re
going to be doing with this
new building (at Pine Rest),”
VanderMolen said. “It is a lit-
tle bit scary. Coming from our
standpoint, we don’t know
what that’s going to do for the
calls for service.”
“We’ve added this extra
police coverage, to the tune of
over $400,000, but all of our
resources seem to be getting
used over there (at Pine Rest),”
Township Supervisor Rob
DeWard said in February.
At the township board’s
March 11 meeting,
VanderMolen said the number
of public safety calls to Pine
Rest has not abated. Township
Manager Rod Weersing said
he has not met yet with hospi-
tal officials. KCSO’s South
Precinct lieutenant met with
Pine Rest executives in
February.
Last month, Pine Rest
Communications Manager
Matt Hiskes said Pine Rest
officials had not yet reviewed
the most recent data on emer-
gency calls. He said they meet
with the sheriff’s office regu-
larly to review statistics and
collaborate to ensure the high-
est level of safety and security
on campus.
“I don’t know what it’s
going to take. The wheels are
turning really slowly. We’re
looking at a huge addition
there ... it’s going to get worsebefore it gets better unless they
take action,” DeWard said at
this past week’s meeting.
“We don’t have any lever-
age?” trustee Dan Fryling
asked.
“Not much,” Deward
replied. “We’re billing (Pine
Rest) for fire department calls
when they exceed, I think, 10
calls ... I do think we have to
revisit the amount we bill
them.”
He said the township also
has the authority to bill Pine
Rest for “an abundance” of
calls for service from the sher-
iff’s office.
In September, Pine Rest
Facilities Manager Mary
Wiersma told the planning
commission that steps would
be taken to make sure there are
not a lot of public safety calls
to the new Pediatric Center.
For example, she said only
hospital staff will have access
to the fire alarm pull stations
in the patient areas.
DeWard said that the con-cern is that, if public safety
services are tied up at Pine
Rest, police officers or fire-
fighters may not be able to
respond adequately to an
urgent call at other locations.
He said recently that there was
a riot at one of the Pine Rest
units.
“All of the deputies in south
Kent County were pulled over
there at the same time,” he
said.
The solution may be to get
township and Pine Rest offi-
cials to hold a meeting to dis-
cuss solutions to the problem of
increasing public safety calls
for police and fire services.
“I tried to do this seven
years ago. You have to sit
everyone down in one room
and come to an agreement on
how we’re going to proceed
with this. Because we take one
step forward and two steps
back,” DeWard said.
“An important thing to keep
in mind as part of this discus-
sion is the sheriff’s department
will let Pine Rest know that
they are here to offer service.
They are not interested in
charging. So, it will be up to
this board to make that deci-
sion, if charges are to be lev-
ied,” Weersing said.
Weersing said the township
compensates the Kent County
Sheriff’s Office for public
safety service, so the township
has the right to offset the cost
it is incurring from the exces-
sive calls for service to Pine
Rest.
“We’ll keep plugging away.
This is going to be something
we’ll need to deal with sooner
than later,” DeWard said.(269) 795-
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Women’s Club
hears from local
businesses
Members of the Caledonia Women’s Club gath-
ered last week at the Caledonia Resource Center for
their first meeting in 2024. The club listened to a
presentation from Diana Diemer, a nurse practitioner
from Proper EU Medical and Aesthetic Center in
Caledonia. She explained the services Proper EU
offers, including microdermabrasion, laser hair
removal, facials and massages. The club says they
have lots planned for 2024. The next meeting will be
held on Monday, April 8 at 10 a.m. at the Caledonia
Resource Center. All are welcome to attend.The 74,000-square-foot Pediatric Center will be
built on the southeast corner of the sprawling 220-
acre campus, near Madison Avenue and 72nd Street.Site preparation work has begun for construction
of the future Pediatric Behavioral Health Center on
the Pine Rest campus. (Photos by James Gemmell)