P&Z denies St. Luke’s medical office building
Hospital appeal or area rezone possible
"Denying the presence of physician offices from a hospital campus
is incongruous and defies common sense."
Jon Moses, St. Luke’s Wood River Medical Center CEO.
By TRAVIS PURSER
Express Staff Writer
After nearly 14 hours of deliberations during a series of four meetings,
the Blaine County Planning and Zoning Commission last Thursday denied St. Luke’s
application to build a 40,000-square-foot medical office building next to its nearly
completed hospital south of Ketchum.
Hospital officials said at the meeting’s end that they were
"disappointed" with the ruling.
Bill Bodner, a top St. Luke’s official at its Boise headquarters,
said in a telephone interview on Tuesday the hospital corporation might "seek legal
remedies."
Bodner, vice president in charge of corporate development, declined to say
whether the hospital would appeal the P&Z decision to the county board of
commissioners. St. Luke’s has more than a month to file an appeal.
St. Luke’s Wood River Medical Center CEO Jon Moses also declined to
say whether St. Luke’s would appeal the P&Z decision, which came on a 5-1 vote.
Moses said, however, in a Monday telephone conservation that St.
Luke’s would not apply to construct a smaller office building.
Also, Moses suggested the P&Z decision had been influenced by an
Idaho Mountain Express report of St. Luke’s preliminary plans to build a third
structure that would house a day-care center on the site.
Moses claimed the Mountain Express had strategically released the
story last Wednesday to influence the Thursday P&Z meeting.
"What happened last week was intentional," he said, apparently
referring to the story’s timing.
"It’s news to us," responded Pam Morris, the
newspaper’s publisher.
In a one-and-a-half-page written statement released yesterday, Moses said
he was "concerned about the negative impact" of the denial.
Moses again emphasized the financial necessity of the office building.
"[W]e are concerned that this decision may impede our ability to
fulfill our commitment to operate the type of quality-oriented and fiscally sound medical
center that is typical of St. Luke’s," Moses wrote. "Denying the presence
of physician offices from a hospital campus is incongruous and defies common sense."
Despite St. Luke’s claims that its new hospital would not be
financially viable without an adjacent office building, county P&Z members said they
were prohibited by state law from making a ruling based on financial considerations.
During the meeting on the application Thursday, P&Z members said that,
in principle, they were in favor of St. Luke’s building the office structure.
However, they said, they were obliged to consider whether the proposed building met the
requirements laid out in a series of existing land-use standards. It didn’t,
according to the P&Z.
P&Z’s goal Thursday was to work through the long series of
land-use criteria, chairman Tom Bowman said at the beginning of the meeting. Therefore, no
new presentation was allowed from St. Luke’s.
Included in the criteria were items that asked P&Z members to consider
whether the building would be "harmonious" with the objectives of the
county’s comprehensive plan, whether the building would "change the essential
character of the area" and whether it would create "interference" by adding
to the traffic on surrounding thoroughfares.
Bowman said the P&Z would have to make a positive finding on all
criteria—there were nine on the list—to give approval.
Commissioners said they voted "no" mostly because of the
proposed building’s large size.
Commissioner Joel Graff, who also said the building was too large,
nevertheless voted in favor of the application.
Because the proposed building was too large, it had unresolved
snow-storage and parking problems, county officials said. Officials also said they were
unsure of the impact the building would have on traffic entering and exiting Highway 75.
"I think we tried to make it work," Bowman said during an
interview after the meeting. But, he added, "St. Luke’s didn’t articulate
the rationale for the size of the building."
P&Z chairman Bowman, suggested to St. Luke’s officials that they
refrain from appealing because the zoning in the hospital area could change soon so it can
be allowed at 40,000 square feet "or even larger."
The current Recreational Development zone in the medical complex area
makes getting approval for office building projects difficult because the zone is meant to
guide development related to recreation, P&Z administrator Deborah Vignes said during
a telephone interview on Friday.
New zoning would likely be aimed at allowing high-density residential and
medically related uses, Vignes said.
Vignes disclosed that county staff, elected officials and owners of
property around the medical complex site began meeting April 18 to hash out the details of
the potential rezone.
Vignes called the three meetings that have taken place so far
"informal workshops," adding: "Obviously, this all has to go through the
public hearing process."
Although Vignes was reluctant to predict the timeline for the rezone, she
characterized it as a "top planning issue for the county" that could take from
four months to a year and half to accomplish.
