Sonoma Valley Hospital delays sale of south lot

UPDATED: The Sonoma Valley Hospital will wait until after the June 6 parcel tax vote to move on selling its vacant 2.83-acre lot bordering MacArthur Avenue.

The original deadline to submit proposals to sell all or part South Lot was April 15. With a unanimous vote at a special session on Wednesday, the board of directors set a new deadline of June 15.

In a memo prepared for the special session, Boardmember Peter Hohorst stated, “accepting bids on the original date of April 15 would potentially discourage bidders who were contemplating a joint venture with the District because of the uncertain nature of the hospital until the outcome of the parcel tax election in June is known.”

The campaign to hike the parcel tax by $55 a year failed, as Measure B, on the March 6 ballot. The hospital will try again for the required two-thirds approval in the June 6 general election. Until then, Hohorst said, the board won’t be able to make an informed decision.

“The future of the hospital itself will be uncertain until the results of the election are known,” he said.

The vote pushes any board decision on the sale from May to at least July. The delay for the submission of bids will provide potential bidders with more time to prepare their proposals, Hohorst said, “and hopefully attract additional bidders.”

In an earlier version of the memo, Hohorst stated his concern that accepting bids on the original April date, but not opening them until after the June election when the Board knos the results, “will cause concern in the community that the Board is somehow hiding something.”