Beach Cities Health District’s Chun wins fifth term, Bholat wins third

From left to right, Dr. Noel Chun, Dr. Michelle Bholat and Michael Kelly Martin, PhD.

by Garth Meyer

Beach Cities Health District Board Member Dr. Michelle Bholat was re-elected Tuesday to a third term with 45.33 percent of the vote. Fellow incumbent Dr. Noel Chun won his fifth term with 42.43 percent and Challenger Michael Kelly Martin received 12.24 percent.

“I  thought the results were great,” Bholat said on Wednesday.

Martin campaigned, in part, in opposition to the district’s proposed Healthy Living Campus. The project would replace the district’s long closed, four-story hospital with a six-story building, to include assisted living units, medical offices and community health and wellness services.

Bholat suggested the election was at least a partial referendum on the Healthy Living Campus.

“I think people want to see development (at the site),” said Bholat. “What it means is we have hashed this out, and we will continue with a community-based needs assessment. That’s what a health district does. We hear everything, we know what people are concerned about. We are concerned too, we are the community.”

“Continuity is important for the (Healthy Living Campus) project, but we don’t all think alike,” Bholat said of the board. 

She noted that an approved Environmental Impact Report does not mean there will be no further review of the plans.

The next board elections are in two years, for three other board seats – held by Jane Diehl, Martha Koo and Vanessa Poster. ER

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