Hearing Examiner wants more information on Fircrest behavioral health facility

A screen shot from the March 6 public hearing shows
Hearing Examiner Gary McLean asking for more information
from DSHS and Shoreline city staff. 

By Oliver Moffat

At a public hearing on March 6, 2024 Hearing Examiner Gary McLean told the Department of Social and Health Services (DSHS) to release more details about the behavioral health facility planned for the Fircrest campus. 

He told DSHS to engage with the Shoreline School District on the plan and gave DSHS more time to solicit input before he makes a final decision. 

McLean said he could issue a ruling on the overall Fircrest Master Development Plan sooner if it were separated from the behavioral health facility plan.

As previously reported, DSHS is seeking permits to move forward with redevelopment plans on the Fircrest campus.

One plan - called the Master Development Plan - outlines redevelopment changes for the overall campus including a new skilled nursing facility to replace the dangerously outdated “Y” buildings.

At the same time, DSHS is seeking a permit to build a new 48 bed behavioral health facility on the campus that would provide mental health treatment in a secure environment for civilly committed individuals.

A map from the Fircrest Master Development Plan shows the proposed location of a behavioral health facility in the northeast quadrant of the Fircrest campus.

The facility will have large spaces for activities, exercise, and life skills instruction to help transition patients back into the community. According to the plan, “these facilities would give the state a unique opportunity to improve access to behavioral health services by providing more capacity and reduce the stigma associated with mental illness by creating a more effective treatment model.”

Hearing Examiner McClean heard public comments on both permit applications at the March 6th meeting, but his concerns focused on what he considered insufficient public engagement on the behavioral health facility.

In remarks about the proposed facility, Examiner McLean issued the finding “that I don’t think a lot of people had any idea what the individuals might be…” who could be involuntarily committed at the facility. “And I dare say the school district doesn’t have a clue either,” he said.

The Shorecrest campus is adjacent to the Fircrest property.
Kellogg Middle School is north of Shorecrest.
Photo from Google satellite view.

In an emailed response to questions, a spokesperson for the Shoreline school district said, “DSHS has reached out to the school district, and we are in contact and working with them to learn more about the project and move forward together.”

According to the plan, the project will be licensed as a residential treatment facility, will be secure and locked in compliance with state law, and will comply with nine other codes and guidelines for such facilities.

The 198-page plan includes detailed descriptions of security measures from architectural floor plans that maximize safety for patients and staff to the kinds of locks used on the doors.

Executives from DSHS testified and answered McClean’s questions at the public hearing about the patients who might be treated at the facility and the security measures that will ensure the safety of staff, residents and the community.

McLean gave DSHS until March 20 to post additional information about the plan for the facility on the city’s website so that “parties of record” could provide written responses via email. “That’s not everybody. That’s the people that came and the people that spoke…” at the public hearing said McClean. He also named the school district a party of record.

In a concession, McClean will allow DSHS to “bifurcate” the two permit applications so that he could rule on the Fircrest plan separately from the behavioral health facility permit. If McClean approves the Fircrest plan, this would allow DSHS to start work on the skilled nursing facility without having to wait for the time consuming public engagement process he is requiring for the behavioral health facility.

Behavioral Health Facilities have faced controversy in King County.

The King County Department of Public Defense argues against the use of involuntary commitment, according to their website. “Our goal is to see resources diverted away from an expensive, court-based system that strips people of their liberty and dignity and to instead put resources into community-based programs that can provide housing, health care, and other supports to people living with chronic mental health disorders.”

As reported by The Seattle Times, one of the region’s largest behavioral health facilities unexpectedly stopped accepting new patients last summer. The move reduced the number of available beds for treatment of people suffering from acute psychiatric symptoms and followed allegations of safety lapses.