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Environmental report to examine Scripps Encinitas expansion

Environmental report to examine Scripps Encinitas expansion

North County Times – Escondido,CA,USA
ENCINITAS — Hospital officials agreed with residents Monday that
traffic is an issue that an environmental study must examine. …

ENCINITAS — Hospital officials agreed with residents Monday that traffic is an issue that an environmental study must examine.

In addition to traffic, an environmental impact report will scrutinize noise, land-use and other consequences of a planned five-phase expansion at Scripps Memorial Hospital Encinitas.

Hospital officials have said the 138-bed facility must expand to meet the demands of the growing region. Their plans include a parking structure, medical office building, reconfigured entryway and expansion of the existing hospital building.

The hospital’s triangular lot abuts Interstate 5 to the east, Santa Fe Drive to the south and Devonshire Road to the west.

A residential neighborhood begins on that road — right across from the hospital campus — and stretches west toward Vulcan Avenue and downtown Encinitas.

The top concern neighbors have with the expansion is what it would mean for traffic, said Andrew Matuszeski, a Devonshire resident and member of the Neighbors of Scripps Encinitas group.

Matuszeski said he would like to see driveways connecting to Devonshire restricted to employees and off-limits to the general public.

Lynne Heidel, a land use attorney representing the hospital, said a traffic consultant has started a study that will be included in the city’s environmental report and that city staffers are working with the consultant.

“We agree that traffic is an issue,” she said.

Another issue is the planned medical office building.

Neighbors and their attorney, Everett DeLano III, have questioned whether the medical offices represent a commercial enterprise that is inappropriate for the hospital’s public/semi-public zoning.

Hospital officials have said their proposal complies with zoning laws, and that they need physicians housed near the hospital so they can be readily available to serve patients.

“Is that really what (the hospital) needs?” DeLano said. “In reality, I think doctors are much more mobile than that. They’re moving from one place to another.”

Heidel, the hospital’s attorney, said medical offices on hospital campuses are the norm and that a number of medical offices operate today at Scripps Encinitas.

The environmental report must examine alternatives to all aspects of the project Scripps has proposed, including the “no project” alternative, Vurbeff said.

It also must consider the impacts of planned projects nearby, such as a 43-acre park at the Hall property, a 152-unit subdivision on Santa Fe at Lake Drive and the widening of Interstate 5.

The expansion calls for buildings up to 59 feet tall, which would be the tallest in the city.

The additions would more than double the building space at the 28-acre campus on Santa Fe Drive, from 333,380 to 874,962 square feet — a 162 percent increase.

The size and intensity of the Scripps plan has triggered preparation of the environmental study, said Scott Vurbeff, the city’s environmental coordinator.

“With a project of this scale and magnitude, normally it’s not exempt from environmental review,” Vurbeff said.

The city is asking residents and public agencies to offer their thoughts on potential harm the expansion could cause by writing to the Encinitas Planning Department, 505 S. Vulcan Ave., Encinitas, CA 92024.

The city must receive written comments by Jan. 15. Residents also can submit oral or written comments about the upcoming study during a meeting at City Hall at 6 p.m. on Jan 9.

The telephone number for the Encinitas Planning Department is (760) 633-2710.

– Contact staff writer Adam Kaye at (760) 943-2312 or akaye@nctimes.com.

Scripps Memorial Hospital Encinitas master plan

Five phases would be built over a 5- to 6-year period:

  • Phase 1 — 883-space parking structure, 48 feet tall; medical office building, 45 feet tall with rooftop mechanical equipment bringing part of the structure to 55 feet above ground level.
  • Phase 2 — 11,000-square-foot expansion of the emergency department on the hospital’s north side. Emergency department would grow from 12 to 30 beds.
  • Phase 3 — reconfiguration the main entryway on Santa Fe Drive with new lanes and gates.
  • Phase 4 — westward expansion of the hospital with a three-story, 78,000-square-foot critical care building. A helipad and a mechanical penthouse would occupy the roof of this building. The rooftop of the penthouse would tower 59 feet above ground level to become the tallest structure in the city.
  • Phase 5 envisions a three-story acute care building of 92,000 square feet. Mechanical equipment would bring part of the roof to 59 feet above grade.