Retired military veterans approached the Cedar City Council Wednesday evening to share their efforts to construct a Veterans Affairs nursing home in Cedar City.
Cedar City resident and Marine Corps veteran Chuck Hoepfner said the $17 million project would be a 110-bed nursing home on a six to eight acre lot, however the project needs more community and financial support for it to become reality.
The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs will provide 35 percent of the costs for a nursing home in southern Utah, either for Cedar City or St. George, but not both. The rest of the funds will be covered by the state.
The vets called on the council for support to persuade Salt Lake City veteran affairs administrators to select Cedar City as the place to build a VA nursing home to service veterans and their spouses instead of St. George.
“We are up against a great deal of opposition — political opposition,” he said.
Hoepfner said Cedar City is a better option to have a VA nursing home because it is centrally located in southwestern Utah and would service military veterans in the area.
“It would make a great deal of comfort for the veterans because some of us are advancing along and are going to need this someday,” Hoepfner said.
Hoepfner also said it’s an ideal location for the nursing home because it’s close to SUU, where students train to become nurses and dietitians.
“We want to let them know that Cedar City is not just a little farm community along the highway,” Hoepfner said. “We have the responsibility, the infrastructure and we have the ‘get-up-and-go’ to do it.”
Hoepfner said Sen. Dennis Stowell, R-Parowan, and Rep. Michael Noel, R-Kanab, offered advice to the vets and informed them to sponsor a town hall meeting open to the public.
The town hall meeting will take place March 12 at noon at the Cedar City Crystal Inn, located at 1575 W. 200 N., to have the public participate in the decision making process of where the nursing home will be.
Hoepfer said he would like support from the community at the town hall meeting.
“Cedar City has been steamrolled many times and it’s time we stop that nonsense,” he said.
Cedar City resident and 31-year Marine Corps veteran Chet Simpson said he would like to have a VA nursing home in Cedar City.
Simpson said his father-in-law, who is approaching dementia, will be sent to a nursing home in Missouri, which is thousands of miles away from his loved ones in Utah, if he doesn’t find a closer VA nursing home.
Simpson said having a nursing home in the area would greatly help out not only his family situation but many others who have military veterans needing care.
The council decided to put this item on the next council’s action meeting, scheduled March 17.
In other business, Cedar City Housing Authority Heidi Miller gave an update to the council on housing projects in the city.
The housing authority is working with the state to construct five single-family homes for low income families.
Miller said the housing authority purchased property north of their current headquarters, to build more affordable units targeting households which make $30,000 or less in annual income for elderly or disabled individuals.
In other business, the council further discussed Cedar City resident
Carol Carpenter’s request to restrict parking on the west side of 100 W. at 435 N. to restrict customers from Toadz Tavern to park in front of her house.
The conflict is that the street is public and restricting parking on a public street is not a city ordinance.
The city has looked at alternatives to restrict parking instead of creating an ordinance to do so, such as putting up a sign, sending out police officers to monitor the area or speaking with Carpenter about putting in a driveway in the back of her house.
City engineer Kit Wareham said the biggest problem with implementing this parking restriction is enforcing it.
City councilor Dale Brinkeroff said he didn’t feel comfortable voting on the matter and motioned to have the council vote on the item at next week’s action meeting.
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