Scripps Encinitas expansion the topic of upcoming environmental …

North County Times – Escondido,CA,USA
ENCINITAS — An environmental study will scrutinize traffic and
other consequences of a planned, five-phase expansion at Scripps Memorial
Hospital Encinitas …

ENCINITAS — An environmental study will scrutinize traffic and other consequences of a planned, five-phase expansion at Scripps Memorial Hospital Encinitas, officials said Monday.

Hospital officials say 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 expansions of the hospital building itself.

The additions would more than double the building space at the Santa Fe Drive campus, from 333,380 to 874,962 square feet. That’s a 162 percent increase.

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

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

The city is welcoming residents and public agencies to identify potential environmental 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 “scoping meeting” at City Hall, 6 p.m. Jan 9.