Hospital wants tower to expand operations

Hoag Memorial Hospital Presbyterian has plans to build a new 300,000-square-foot tower on Newport Boulevard to house more operating rooms and other care facilities, but nearby residents say the hospital needs to first make amends for noise and air pollution they claim the hospital causes.

“Our concerns are problems they have caused for the community,” said Erik Thurnher, co-chairman of a residents committee formed to address the issue. “If they fix some of these things, we would be happy to give them the flexibility they need.”

Hoag revealed preliminary plans for the building Thursday night at a Newport Beach Planning Commission meeting. Planning Commissioner Barry Eaton said the new facility would benefit the community but that Hoag needed to first address the complaints.

“Everyone on the commission thinks Hoag does a superb job of providing high-quality medical care.” Eaton said. “They have a need to expand.”

The new tower would be built on the site of the original hospital, a one-story red-tile building constructed in 1952 on Newport Boulevard. Hospital officials said Friday they expected the new structure to be about the same size as the Sue & Bill Gross Women’s Pavilion at Hoag, which was completed in 2005. The new building would house operating rooms, and heart and vascular and neuroscience facilities, officials said.

Hoag hopes to present concrete plans for the building to city officials in 18 months to two years, said Debra Legan, a spokeswoman for Hoag.

Hospital officials were reluctant to reveal specific plans for a new building when questioned by the planning commission Thursday evening, Eaton said. The commissioner first questioned a Hoag consultant at the meeting about plans for a new building, but the hospital’s plans were not unveiled until later in the evening. Gary McKitterick, chairman of the facilities committee for Hoag, disclosed the plans for a new tower to the commissioners Thursday.

Hoag wants city permission to shift up to 225,000 square feet of building space from its lower campus, which stretches along Pacific Coast Highway to its upper campus bordering Newport Boulevard. The reallocation of unbuilt space would allow the hospital to build the new tower on Newport Boulevard.

Hoag officials also want the city to loosen noise restrictions in some areas near the hospital. Noise generated by loading docks and rooftop mechanical equipment regularly exceeds the 55-decibel limit, according to a city-commissioned report on noise levels. Noise in some residential areas around the hospital reaches 67 decibels, according to the report.

The hospital has asked the city for a 70-decibel limit in some areas during the daytime. According to the Center for Human Performance & Health, 70 decibels is about as loud as a normal conversation. In return, Hoag would give the city $3 million in development fees for the city to use on road improvements and other city projects.

Residents at the Villa Balboa condominium complex, which borders Hoag on two sides, say busy loading docks and rooftop machinery at the hospital are a nuisance, and that no new noise allowances should be made for Hoag’s supply trucks and mechanical equipment. The residents also say exhaust and steam from a hospital power station blocks neighbors’ view of the ocean, and they want the hospital to install equipment that would eliminate the plumes of steam and smoke.