HOUSTON, Texas (KTRK) — In a 4-0 vote, Harris County Commissioners’ Court approved Harris Health’s condemnation of nearly nine acres of Hermann Park to expand Ben Taub Hospital.
The hearing and vote that took place Thursday afternoon is something that has been a long time coming. The project is one that Harris Health officials said would cost $410 million.
With the land condemned, letters will now be sent to owners and whoever else has an interest in the land. It will take about six to nine months before possession of the land is determined.
ABC13 broke this story last July.
Ben Taub officials say they need the 8.9 acres of Hermann Park to better serve patients.
Over the past several months, ABC13 has heard the Harris Health CEO detail hourslong waits for people at Ben Taub’s emergency room and patients having to be attended to in the hallways because of a lack of space.
The Protect Hermann Park organization says the plan is “misguided,” something that will cost millions of taxpayer dollars and that they say will be in the wrong location.
Commissioners said public meetings had to be held about the proposal; however, these meetings took place after the Harris Health board had already decided to proceed with the expansion through eminent domain.
Commissioner Adrian Garcia shared the following ahead of one of the community meetings in January:
“The general Harris County population, I do believe, was not engaged well enough, so that’s what this is all about. It’s not so much what I don’t know. I want to make sure the public understands what is being proposed,” Garcia explained.
The portion of the park in question is called the Warneke track. The Warneke family donated it to the City of Houston more than 100 years ago, and it was intended for park use only.
Real estate experts have told ABC13 that paying the Warneke heirs to use the land for a hospital could top $100 million.
Several heirs have also spoken out against the condemnation of the land.
They said building a new hospital at another location would cost $2.5 billion.
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