Willowbend gets green light for new facility

Willowbend gets green light for new facility

Marion Planning & Zoning approves site plan

news@theeveningtimes.com Marion Planning and Zoning gave the final go-ahead on the site plan for Willowbend Nursing and Rehabilitation to begin construction on its new facility.

Willowbend plans to build a new 55,000 square foot facility on six acres on Canal Street. The new structure will replace their existing building on Hwy. 64.

“We approved that contingent on our consultant approving that,” said city planner Ed Cain. “We use a local engineer to review our site plans as a third party for us. Sometimes he doesn’t have that done by the time we consider the plans. So we just approve it contingent on his OK.”

The new facility will offer 118 skilled nursing beds and will include a designated wing of private rooms that will accommodate individuals requiring short-term rehabilitation stays.

The project will also be a boost to the city’s job base, employing 110 full-time and part-time employees.

Cain said Willowbend has indicated that they hope to begin construction within 30 to 45 days. The project will take about ten months to complete. “They’re trying to get started this fall,” Cain said.

In other business, the commission also approved plans for an expansion to the Woolfolk Library. The library is looking to build a 20-by-50-foot room on the east side of the building which will give them more work space.

The addition will cost about $180,000. The project will be partially funded by Crittenden County and Marion, but the bulk of the funding will come from a $90,000 grant from the Assisi Foundation of Memphis.

Library officials have said that the library continues to grow and that they are out of work space. Right now the staff is using a meeting room to process all of the books that come in and are sent to the county’s seven library branches.

Woolfolk Library has about 42,000 items in circulation and gets about 3,500 visits a month.

“That was one of the requirements for the grant application — to have approval of the P& Z,” Cain said.

By Mark Randall