At a glance

• WHAT: City Council meeting
  
  
• WHEN: 7 p.m. Tuesday
  
  
• WHERE: Council Chambers, City Hall, 1 Plaza Circle
  
  
• ALSO ON THE AGENDA: The Apricot Fiesta is requesting the city help in security costs this year to the tune of $15,000. The county sheriff’s department has covered the cost in the past as part of its police service contract with the city, but the new contract only has the sheriff contributing half the cost.

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The people who run the Del Puerto Health Care Center want to relocate to a new, larger facility in the Keystone Pacific Business Park, but their landlord has opposed the move.

John Ramos, a local man with numerous properties in the city, will take his appeal to the Patterson City Council on Tuesday with the hope that council members will squash the plans for the new building. Ramos has argued that the type of health facility the district proposes does not conform to business park zoning rules.

However, he has also presented the district with a contract dubbed an “office lease termination agreement,” district officials said. In a copy provided by the district to the Irrigator, the document states Ramos would shelve his objections if the health care board met all the stipulations in the agreement, including paying a $125,000 “restoration fee.”

If the district agrees to the terms, the contract states that the “landlord agrees to withdraw and dismiss his appeal.”

On Tuesday, the Del Puerto Health Care District board decided it would not give Ramos the money.

“I hate to use the word ‘hold,’” said Ed Maring, the board’s president, “but that’s what this is. He’s trying to extract $125,000 from the district.”

Other board members expressed similar concerns.

“I don’t want to pay him $125,000 to make this go away,” board member Jeanette Kessler said.

Ramos did not respond to requests for an interview this week.

The district has rented a 5,000-square-foot building at 1108 Ward Ave. from Ramos for close to four years. In March 2010, the lease expires. The board plans to move the facility prior to that time and open shop in an 11,000-square-foot building at Keystone in western Patterson.

The district sorely needs the space, said Margo Arnold, the district’s director.

The district got an OK from the Patterson Planning Commission, but Ramos appealed that ruling and requested the commission revisit its decision. It did so in March and unanimously reaffirmed its earlier ruling.

Now, Ramos has taken the appeal to the City Council, which is the ultimate authority on the matter. Whether the council we hear it Tuesday night is uncertain. Ramos’ lawyer, Thomas Terpstra, has requested the hearing be delayed.

In his appeal to the commission, a representative for Ramos said the business park rules do not allow for the type of facility the district proposes. The Keystone developer agreement stats certain medical uses are allowed, but does not state if a primary care facility, like the one touted by the district, is among them.

According to district representatives, the agreement does state that government offices can be located in the park — and because the board is an elected body, it qualifies.

Contact John Saiz at 892-6187 or john@pattersonirrigator.com.