Dix306 Supports Keeping Dorothea Dix Hospital Open

Dix306 unanimously supports keeping the Dorothea Dix Hospital open and continuing to provide mental health services.

What Will Be The Future of the Dorothea Dix Land?

If the State closes the Dorothea Dix Hospital, the central issue will then become what these 306 acres will become in the future?

If this land is to be preserved as a 306 acre public park for all of North Carolina, citizens will need to quickly mobilize and voice to our elected leaders that we want a park and NOT the past and current proposals (see below) for an office park, shopping center and/or condominium complex that do not honor the historical significance of this land.

Recent History: Dorothea Dix Hospital was targeted for closure under a mental health reform plan put in effect under former Governor Mike Easley and the NC Legislature in 2004 or 2005. In the several years following that plan there were numerous public forums sponsored by the NC Legislature and led by Land Design and Urban Land Institute for the future use of that land.

Dix306 was started back in 2006 to create an alternative vision for that land that called for a destination park instead of massive mixed use development:

• The NC Legislature and City of Raleigh authorized $100,000 in 2005 for Land Design to hold an open forums for public input and design a plan for use of the remaining 306 acres on the campus. (See News & Observer article) Over 200 folks attended with near unanimous support for creating a park on the land and Land Design came up with 2 plans... both calling for mixed use development of shopping center, condos and office with some used as a park. Citizens participating in the forums were very disappointed with the results.

• In 2006 the Legislature brought in Urban Land Institute (ULI) to develop a design for the use of the land and again came forward with mixed use development of shopping center, condos and office with some used as a park. (See Plan Comparasion) At the ULI open forum in 2007, Mental Health advocates spoke passionately for keeping the hospital open and Dix306 also spoke supporting mental health as 1st priority but were the hospital were to close, the people wanted all 306 acres for a destination park on the site.

• In 2007, Governor Easley proposed building a new 400,000 square foot Office Complex for state employees on the land and the state initiated their $66,000,000 renovation project converting current mental health buildings to a state offices.

• News Articles from 2004 to 2007: http://www.dixpark.org/news_articles.htm

• Today: The NC State Legislature continues to actively allocate funds for the renovation of the Dorothea Dix Campus mental health facilities to state office buildings and the transfer of state employees to Dix continues today.

Since 2004 our elected officials have been on a path to close Dorothea Dix Hospital and each passing year we have seen reduced services for mental health on that campus and millions poured into renovating to State Office buildings.

In 2010, Department of Health and Human Services' Secretary Lanier Cansler announced that due to funding issues Dorothea Dix Hospital will be moving 90% of its remaining patients to other facilities by the end of 2010 and no longer admitting new patients. All three park advocate groups: Friends of Dix Park, The Dix Visionaries and Dix306, have supported keeping Dorothea Dix Hospital open.

If Dorothea Dix Hospital is going to close, we will need your help to protect these 306 acres from development and to preserve this very special land as a Park District. Please join us in this effort by emailing to info@Dix306.org with questions or to get involved.