Camino Medical Group Renews Proposal To Build Health Clinic in Mountain View

The Camino Medical Group, a division of the Palo Alto Medical Foundation, has renewed a proposal to build a $100 million health clinic in Mountain View with an offer to make a $5 million donation toward a new city senior center, the San Jose Mercury News reports (Kwan, San Jose Mercury News, 9/27). In April, Camino offered to make to a one-time $4 million payment to the city in lieu of taxes for permission to build the 200,000-square-foot clinic, in part to address concerns from city council members that a commercial facility would generate more tax revenue for the city; Camino also offered to provide $75,000 per year for local schools. However, Camino officials last month withdrew the proposal to build the clinic because Sutter Health, an affiliate of Camino through Palo Alto, did not want to pay the city a lump sum in lieu of taxes because the move might prompt other cities to require similar payments (California Healthline, 9/9). Palo Alto CEO David Druker said that the proposed $5 million donation "will circumvent that problem," the Mercury News reports. Under the new proposal, which requires approval from the city council, Mountain View could place the $5 million in an endowment, which would provide the city with about $250,000 to $300,000 per year (San Jose Mercury News, 9/27).