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After an attempt to create a senior living community south of Steamboat Springs was thwarted by land problems in late 2008, Yampa Valley Medical Center is taking the first steps toward trying again.

YVMC has targeted local baby boomers and senior residents with a survey about the demands for senior living for their parents. A first batch of postcards went out in the mail, and anyone interested can return the postcard to receive the survey.

YVMC CEO Karl Gills said the hospital is scoping out four new sites in town to create “a senior community of independent living, assisted living, memory assistance and skilled care.”

If the plan gets a positive response, construction on the site could begin in 2011 or 2012, he said. The size of the community would largely be dependent on survey responses, he said.

“At the Doak Walker Care Center, we have many parents of local children desiring to move to Steamboat Springs to be closer to their children,” Gills said.

Hospital spokeswoman Chri­s­tine McKelvie said the type of campus being discussed doesn’t exist in Routt County.

“I think that there are more options now than there used to be years ago for seniors, but in this county, we don’t have all of them together on one campus, and we’re missing a memory care unit altogether,” she said.

YVMC floated the idea of building a care community named “The Bridges at Steamboat” south of the Yampa River just south of Steamboat.

City planning commissioners at the time expressed reservations about the project because of its placement near the river and wildlife areas.

Gills said that “due to the entitlement problems with that piece of land,” the project was scrapped.

That project reportedly was designed to replace the Doak Walker Care Center, but the new proposed project would instead offer another option for seniors, Gills said. The Doak is at capacity with 58 of its 59 beds full and 24 seniors on a waiting list.