As anticipated, Sibley Memorial Hospital has notified the ANC and the Palisades Citizens Association of its plans to come forth this fall with a massive, integrated long-term plan for the expansion of its facilities and operations.
Hospital neighbors and the ANC have for some time been asking the hospital to share with the community the full scope of its future plans. Absent any context for various construction projects they have had to evaluate on a onesy-twosy basis the impacts of these additions on views, traffic, lighting and noise.
In recent years we have seen addition of the Grand Oaks assisted living facility (a private facility operated by Sunrise Assisted Living, Inc.) including 104 apartments. Also the Renaissance skilled nursing unit, a state-of-the-art breast cancer treatment facility and a multi-story parking garage on Little Falls Road. Sibley has approval for but has not yet constructed additional Grand Oaks apartments.
Clearly Sibley is growing and will continue to grow, as it must respond to competitive changes in the hospital landscape and continue to serve surrounding communities. The only real question is how they go about it and what approach will give us maximum notice and opportunity to be heard in the process.
While the hospital shared with the ANC, PCA and a handful of neighbors in January its ÒconceptsÓ for the expansion, we have not as yet received revised and detailed plans. But based on their concepts we expect their proposed first phase will include relocating a portion of Little Falls Road, a new office tower for doctors and another multi-story parking garage (there are now about 1400 parking spaces in place).
Phase 2 may entail removal of the existing auditorium and administrative offices -- once used as housing for nurses -- and construction of new patient housing. Patient beds may be increased 40 percent from the current 230 count to the hospitalÕs fully-licensed capacity for 328 beds, all of them in single rooms.
In response to years of neighborhood complaints about noise, lighting and visual impacts the hospital has said it will seek to relocate its new patient facility away from Loughboro Road and closer to Little Falls Road. The current patient facility would eventually be used for administration, and a new auditorium will be built.
In terms of transportation changes the hospital may propose construction of a Metro bus stop in a central location on the hospital grounds to gather all Metro buses into a single pick-up, drop-off and turnaround pad including layover. They will likely ask for a new traffic light at a newly-established main entrance at Little Falls Road and Dalecarlia Parkway.
Collectively the proposed changes will have a tremendous impact on the surrounding neighborhoods of Palisades and Spring Valley, with a significant ripple effect on traffic back up through Westmoreland and Ward Circles and down along MacArthur Boulevard.
Neighborhoods surrounding the hospital will have multiple opportunities to review and comment on the plan as Sibley begins a series of presentations to the community. Sibley will explain how its plan responds to changing area demographics and the need for new and expanded services.
Again, whatÕs here is based on concept presentations in January. Revised plans are forthcoming this month. Sibley will preview these plans at the ANCÕs October 5th meeting and we urge you to attend and listen.
This proceeding will gain momentum throughout the fall and include extensive hearings before the cityÕs Zoning Commission. It will be complex, require a great deal of input from the community, and take upwards of a year to complete.
To move ahead, Sibley will need to first obtain re-zoning from its current R-5-A zoning to whatÕs called a Òplanned unit development,Ó or PUD. Under PUD rules Sibley will seek approval for a Master Plan which will establish parameters for the site including building placement, density, height, parking needs and all future uses -- not unlike a campus plan. The hospital will then bring forward detailed plans, likely in multiple phases over a several-year period, for review, approval and construction.
The benefit of PUD status for the hospital is that it enables them to negotiate for greater density, height and parking than they could seek Òby rightÓ with their current R-5-A zoning. PUD zoning is generally associated with construction of housing developments (Foxhall Crescents is a PUD). From our perspective the guidelines for evaluation of a PUD proposal include mitigation of adverse effects, neighborhood amenities and overall community benefits.
The hospital will need to obtain, through a separate public proceeding, a Certificate of Need from the Department of Health for each element of its proposed plan. The purpose of the Certificate of Need process is to ensure that taken as a whole, hospitals are meeting -- but not exceeding -- the overall need for patient beds and various services across the city and metropolitan area. Should hospitals not be competitive this would adversely affect their viability; should they overbuild the result could be increased service costs and reduced access for some to the health care they need.
We look forward to participating fully and effectively in Sibley's PUD proceeding and have assembled an expert volunteer team from within the community to assist us. We will need to raise funds from within Palisades and surrounding areas in order to engage an expert zoning attorney. We look forward to forming a core group of residents interested and willing to participate in ongoing meetings to assist review.
Finally we are very concerned, as you know, about the prospect of construction of the U.S. Army CorpsÕ Washington Aqueduct dewatering facility behind the hospital on Little Falls Road, and their plan to run twenty-ton trucks alongside hospital traffic in and out of Little Falls Road.
In our meetings with Sibley COO Jerry Price we have repeatedly stated that we want to enter into the zoning proceeding with them "unencumbered" by issues related to the Corps. However it's increasingly looking like this may be impossible. If the Corps is permitted to move ahead with its plan we will need to do our best to work with the community to mitigate the combined traffic and traffic safety, environmental and noise impacts.