Health Partners seeks rezoning for East Toledo clinic at 815 Navarre; planning commission recommended approval

Janice Senderhouse, chief executive officer of Health Partners of Western Ohio, told the Toledo Zoning and Planning Committee on May 14 that her federally qualified health center is seeking a zone change for 815 Navarre Avenue so it can expand an East Side community health center and add services including medical, dental, counseling and a pharmacy.

Health Partners currently serves about 60,000 patients and operates clinics and school-based services in Toledo. "We do not use AI. We only do telehealth," Senderhouse said when a neighbor raised concerns about artificial intelligence in patient care. She said the proposed site would add about 50 jobs, with an average wage near $32 per hour and additional entry-level positions.

The center’s application asks to change zoning from RD-6 (duplex residential) to a neighborhood mixed-use commercial/residential designation to permit a roughly 27,000-square-foot clinic on the site of a former elementary school. Senderhouse said the organization purchased the property from Toledo Public Schools and has invested in a previous location on Collingwood Avenue; she described East Toledo as a federally designated medical and dental shortage area with higher rates of hypertension, diabetes, asthma and other conditions.

Planning staff told the committee the Plan Commission recommended approval and said staff attended neighborhood meetings; staff added a landscaping easement and said neighborhood mixed-use was the plan designation for the area. Councilwoman Williams and other members praised the applicant’s services and asked about staffing and the planned dental and pharmacy services; Senderhouse said the proposal follows the health center’s existing “one-stop shop” model used elsewhere.

After public comment — one speaker asked about an AI policy for patient care, and the applicant said Health Partners does not use AI and will develop a policy — Committee member Gattis noted he had received petitions and information. Chair Cottrell reported 62 petition signatures and that additional calls had been received after an earlier deferral. The committee referred the matter to full City Council with no recommendation.

The committee recorded no formal vote on the zoning change at the Zoning & Planning hearing; the matter will be considered by Toledo City Council next week.

Questions raised to the applicant included projected time to operation (Senderhouse estimated about 14 months after approvals), the presence of dental services at the new site, plans to operate evenings and Saturdays for increased access, outreach and neighborhood meetings the applicant held, and concerns from a small number of neighbors who believed the clinic might be a methadone treatment site — a point Senderhouse explicitly denied.