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Independence, MO —
Six months after Swope Health Services received significant grant funding toward a new clinic in Independence, plans are under way to construct the facility.
The Independence Planning Commission Tuesday night approved rezoning 11320 E. Truman Road from industrial to office-residential. A long-standing metal industrial building on the former site of Lumber City Plywood & Paneling will soon be torn down for Swope Health Services to contract an approximately 10,000-square-foot clinic.
The plan is to sell the existing 3,000-square-foot Swope Health Services clinic at 1638 W. U.S. 24. In May, the health system received more than $2.5 million in grant funding made available through the 2010 Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, including $2,018,313 for the new facility.
That act’s funding supports the construction and expansion of services at community health centers nationwide, with the goal of meeting the growing demand for health care among uninsured patients. More than 90 percent of Swope’s patients live below the poverty level.
According to the rezoning application, one of the advantages of the new location is its additional parking spaces and its positioning along a bus line. The clinic will be open from 8:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. Monday through Friday, with possible evening hours for patient convenience.
“I am in favor of this,” commission member Karen DeLuccie said. “I don’t know how you’ve operated from your current site. I pass it, and I think, ‘Well, where do people park?’ For 27 years, I’ve been passing that same building on Truman Road, and I’m looking forward to not passing that building on Truman Road.”
Commission member Lori Harp also praised the project, saying that Truman Road is a gateway into Independence and that she appreciates any effort to clean it up.
“I’m for cleaning it up,” Harp said, “one building at a time. I’m delighted to have new office construction along that road.”
Six months after Swope Health Services received significant grant funding toward a new clinic in Independence, plans are under way to construct the facility.
The Independence Planning Commission Tuesday night approved rezoning 11320 E. Truman Road from industrial to office-residential. A long-standing metal industrial building on the former site of Lumber City Plywood & Paneling will soon be torn down for Swope Health Services to contract an approximately 10,000-square-foot clinic.
The plan is to sell the existing 3,000-square-foot Swope Health Services clinic at 1638 W. U.S. 24. In May, the health system received more than $2.5 million in grant funding made available through the 2010 Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, including $2,018,313 for the new facility.
That act’s funding supports the construction and expansion of services at community health centers nationwide, with the goal of meeting the growing demand for health care among uninsured patients. More than 90 percent of Swope’s patients live below the poverty level.
According to the rezoning application, one of the advantages of the new location is its additional parking spaces and its positioning along a bus line. The clinic will be open from 8:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. Monday through Friday, with possible evening hours for patient convenience.
“I am in favor of this,” commission member Karen DeLuccie said. “I don’t know how you’ve operated from your current site. I pass it, and I think, ‘Well, where do people park?’ For 27 years, I’ve been passing that same building on Truman Road, and I’m looking forward to not passing that building on Truman Road.”
Commission member Lori Harp also praised the project, saying that Truman Road is a gateway into Independence and that she appreciates any effort to clean it up.
“I’m for cleaning it up,” Harp said, “one building at a time. I’m delighted to have new office construction along that road.”
