Maple Plain denies assisted living facility request

After roughly six months of discussion and research, Maple Plain city council ultimately denied River Oaks application for a conditional use permit (CUP) to use the property at 1520 Wyman Avenue as a 61-bed assisted living facility.

Maple Plain determined that the strain the facility would have on Maple Plain’s public safety services would be too great.

While Haven Homes/Cassia operated a nursing home at the same location prior to 2020, the proposal from River Oaks is for a facility for assisted living only. Nursing home employees can provide more services to residents, such as medical services, while assisted living facilities largely rely on nearby police and fire departments to provide emergency services.

The proposed facility would have drastically raised call volumes to West Hennepin Public Safety (WHPS) and the Maple Plain Fire Department (MPFD).

WHPS is and has been understaffed for decades. They are currently staffed by eight officers. Police departments nationwide, not just WHPS, have struggled to reach fully-staffed levels making relying on future growth undesirable.

WHPS Chief Gary Kroells relayed at Maple Plain’s Special Joint Public Safety Meeting on May 22 that, based on the call volume at the similar existing Watertown facility and conversations with the Carver County Sheriff, WHPS would expect to see a 24 to 40 percent increase in call volume.

The MPFD anticipated the same issue, particularly during the time period of 7 a.m. and 5 p.m. when most of its paid on-call firefighters work jobs elsewhere. At the same meeting as Chief Kroells, MPFD Chief Rick Denneson expected a 29 to 38 percent increase in call volume.

Due to the nature of some calls, River Oaks was unable to guarantee they could help lower the total call volumes at its facility. River Oaks devised a plan with public safety authorities at its facility in Lake City, to defer non-emergency calls to River Oaks employees. Despite this, the Lake City location regularly sees over 100 calls each year, with the number varying from 93 in 2020 to 163 in 2018 and 147 in 2023.

River Oaks’ Watertown facility, which houses 60 beds and is most comparable to the proposed facility, has averaged 178 law enforcement calls and 111.5 fire department calls per full year.

With so many potential additional calls, Maple Plain feared for the quality of service to the rest of the city, particularly wait times.

River Oaks last operated a solely assisted living facility, not including nursing, in 2020. That 21 bed facility, located at 5515 Bryant St., averaged 27 WHPS calls and 20 MPFD calls in 2016-2020 before shutting down. River Oaks may consider downsizing from its 61-bed plans, though this was not mentioned.

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Maple Plain will soon receive a refresh. City council approved the creation of a rebranding committee that will “design the City logo that brings out the identity of the City, design consistent standards for signage/imagery used throughout the City, and choose a platform to redesign the City website.”