Springfield annexation for behavioral health hospital remains unresolved

Springfield’s decision on a proposed behavioral health campus stayed unsettled after city leaders continued their public hearing on annexing two vacant parcels off International Way. The delay keeps Lane County’s planned crisis center and PeaceHealth’s Timber Springs Behavioral Health Hospital in limbo, even though supporters say the project could reshape where people in crisis go for care in north Springfield.

The annexation case, file 811-26-000004-TYP4, covers land north of International Way, between 500 and 700 International Way and 1000 Royal Caribbean Way, east of the former Royal Caribbean call center. The parcels are zoned Campus Industrial, sit inside Springfield’s Urban Growth Boundary and abut city limits on the west, south and east sides. The request would bring the property into the City of Springfield and the Willamalane Park & Recreation District, while also removing the Urbanizable Fringe Overlay District, known as UF-10.

That land-use decision has become much more than a standard annexation. Lane County says the site would anchor a behavioral health care campus with PeaceHealth’s 96-bed Timber Springs Behavioral Health Hospital and the county-run Lane Stabilization Center. The county describes the stabilization center as having about 16 adult beds, 14 adult recliners and 12 youth short-term stabilization beds, with 24/7 urgent behavioral-health services, peer support, case management, mental health assessment and therapy, and psychiatric medication for all ages. Connections Health Solutions would operate the center.

PeaceHealth says Timber Springs would include 96 inpatient beds, including 24 adolescent beds, and would nearly triple its current University District behavioral health unit. KLCC reported the hospital would cost $82 million. Lane County has framed the campus as a partnership meant to improve the behavioral-health continuum of care across the county, and county leaders have described it as a major step toward building Oregon’s first paired behavioral-health hospital and stabilization center on one site.

The political stakes were visible at the May 18 council hearing, where roughly 20 people testified and only two spoke against the annexation. Lane County District Attorney Chris Parosa supported the plan, arguing early care reduces incarcerations and helps keep people out of the hospital-jail cycle. No action was taken, and the issue remained unresolved after the continued hearing.

The project is also entangled in a broader legal fight. Neighboring landowners have filed suit challenging both the campus proposal and the legal basis for the state siting law used to support it. That law, House Bill 2005, was enacted in 2025 and created the fast-tracked pathway local officials have leaned on for behavioral-health facilities. For Springfield, the next decision will determine whether the parcels on International Way become part of a new regional care campus or remain a stalled piece of land in a much larger fight over access, growth and crisis response.