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PASCO -- Pasco City Council is scheduled to issue a long-awaited decision Monday on a proposed Planned Parenthood clinic.
The proposal has sparked pro-life protests on Court Street, spawned numerous letters to the editor debating morality and health care and brought more than 200 people to a June planning commission meeting.
Planned Parenthood of Central Washington submitted a permit application in May to open a clinic to provide family planning, cancer testing and sexually transmitted diseases testing and treatment.
Pasco needs a clinic because of the high rates of teen pregnancy and STDs in Franklin County, said Brian Griffith, Planned Parenthood spokesman.
The county has the second highest teen pregnancy rate in the state, the third highest rate of chlamydia and 14th highest rate of gonorrhea infections, according to a 2007 state Department of Health report.
Although Planned Parenthood has a Kennewick clinic, a Pasco clinic would make services more available to those who rely on bus service for transportation, Griffith said.
Planned Parenthood officials have maintained they will not perform abortions at the Pasco location.
Still, much of the opposition to the clinic has centered around abortion concerns.
Some residents spoke against abortion and the morning-after pill, a contraceptive that can prevent pregnancy for a limited time after sex, at the June planning commission meeting.
Others questioned the effect the clinic and possible protests would have on children who attend nearby Mark Twain Elementary.
In the end, the planning commission voted 3-2 in September to deny the application, citing potential disruptions and threats to public safety.
But the city council has the final word when it meets at 7 p.m. Monday in council chambers at Pasco City Hall, 525 N. Third Ave.
By law, the public will not be allowed to speak on the issue, and the council must base its decision on the previous testimony.
The Court Street location is an ideal site for the clinic because it is a retail business district with bus service, said Anna Franks, Planned Parenthood Central Washington president and CEO, in a Nov. 12 letter to the city council.
But some residents worried the clinic might increase traffic in the neighborhood.
For example, Maria Allan of Pasco said in a letter to the Herald that she was concerned about pedestrian safety, the lowering of property values, disruption to other businesses and an increase in teen drivers in the area.
But Marsha Fuller of Pasco said the city needs the clinic to help improve residents' reproductive health. A number of people need access to those services at a free or reduced price, she said.
"People should have the decision at least, and poor people don't have the decision if the clinic is not here," she said.
Fuller, who has two daughters, said some parents aren't comfortable talking about sex with their kids and in that case, Planned Parenthood can help with the facts while parents add the morals.
City attorney Lee Kerr told the planning commission in an Aug. 14 memo that the decision to grant the permit is a land use decision, not a philosophical one.
"The Washington Supreme Court concluded that neighborhood opposition based on unsupported fears of neighborhood residents or unsubstantiated allegations of loss of property value do not constitute competent or substantial evidence to support a finding of fact," he said.
Rick White, director of the city's Community and Economic Development Department, said the city council will accept or deny the permit based on land-use criteria in the city code.
Under Pasco ordinances, a permit can be denied if it conflicts with the city's comprehensive plan, will adversely affect public infrastructure, won't be in harmony with the area's character, will discourage other development in the neighborhood or will endanger public health and safety.
The council members received a thick binder including all the testimony made to the planning commission, staff reports and the e-mails and letters sent to the city before the record officially closed, White said.
-- Kristi Pihl: 509-582-1512; kpihl@tricityherald.com
