HERMISTON – Hermiston’s former hospital once hummed with life, as medical personnel inside went about the business of healing their patients.

Today, the sprawling building sits silent, vacated 20 years ago. Windows are boarded and multiple coats of paint obscure graffiti there.

Now, the property, just west of the Umatilla County Fairgrounds, is drawing interest from the county as a site for fair offices and parking. The possibility makes neighbors, police officers and city officials smile.

“It’s dead, boarded up,” said Crystal Steele, who lives across the street. “It brings down the value of the area.”

“It’s an eyesore and is contaminated with asbestos,” said Chuck Neid, another neighbor. “We’ve had problems with people breaking into it and using it as a drug haven.”

Shane Pratt, principal of West Park Elementary School, which borders the property, said he would love to see something happen with the empty building.

“Doors and windows were getting kicked and kids played in there,” he said.

The problem has eased somewhat, he said, as the building’s owner, Dr. Kenneth Peterson, has taken pains to paint over graffiti and securely board the windows.

“Dr. Peterson has been a pretty good neighbor, but we would love to see it go,” he said.

Lt. Jason Edmiston said the Hermiston Police Department responds regularly to the old hospital to deal with transients, drug users and vandals. The building also is a target for copper thieves, he said.

Edmiston remembered one of those calls vividly.

“They were ripping the walls apart to get copper wiring and copper fittings,” he said. “This was in broad daylight.”

But County Commissioners and fair board members are tossing around the idea of purchasing the property for more than neighborhood safety or beautification. The county is eyeing both the hospital and the Broun Building, next door, as a way to grow and improve the fairgrounds.

The Broun Building, owned by Good Shepherd Medical Center, contains office space.

“We’re interested in both of them,” said Commissioner Dennis Doherty. “If we had the property, we could put it to good use.”

He said the county envisions expanded fairgrounds that could attract year-round revenue if it had more space for functions and events and more parking.

“We have deferred and deferred and deferred fairground matters for so long,” he said.

Umatilla County Fair Board Chairman Don Miller said the board has considered moving the fairgrounds to a new location to escape space restraints.

“The fairgrounds has gone through 25 to 30 years of Band-Aids and neglect in the hope that, in some miraculous manner, the fair would move,” Miller said.

Lately, Miller said, the board has chosen a new direction as Umatilla County residents have indicated they don’t want the fair to change location.

“They want us to fix the old fairgrounds,” he said.

That will involve updating an old electrical system, fixing water supply problems, making the fairgrounds more ADA-compliant and attending to general disintegration of the buildings.

Acquiring more land is an important part of the plan. Before that happens, the county has hurdles to jump.

“The asbestos situation is real and it would be a problem,” Doherty said.

Mike Ward, Hermiston’s building official, verified the asbestos. He said the structure is sound, but the building’s tile floors contain asbestos in them and pipes are wrapped with the dangerous material.

“Certified people would have to abate that issue and take the material to a hazardous waste facility,” Ward said. “It gets expensive.”

Doherty said the county wouldn’t pay a premium to obtain the property.

“We would buy it at a reasonable price,” he said.

The commissioner said the assessed value of the property is $600,000.

Phone calls to Peterson’s office were not returned.