Urgent care site selection can be tricky business. Once operators have sized up their addressable market, considered the competition, and estimated the available workforce, opening their doors may seem like a cinch. However, local zoning approvals must figure into site selection strategy as well. Last week, city councilors in Celina, Ohio, voted down a rezoning measure, which ultimately prevented Bon Secours Mercy Health from building a 4,200-square-foot urgent care on a former manufacturing site in southern Ohio. The reasoning of the council was based on deed restrictions in the documentation that would have prevented other healthcare operators from moving onto any nearby real estate for 30 years without Mercy Health’s consent. According to the Daily Standard, a Mercy Health official noted that the organization in the past has rolled back such restrictions on some of its properties once it vacated them.
It happens: “Zoning issues occur far more frequently than is reported,” says Alan A. Ayers, MBA, MAcc, President of Urgent Care Consultants and Senior Editor of JUCM. He says cities may also be thinking about tax implications and resources needed to support a new nonprofit business setting up shop. Read more from the JUCM archive: Legal Restriction of Urgent Care Businesses by Municipalities