Hospital expansion approved
An expansion plan for Kalispell Regional Medical Center received initial approval Monday.
The Kalispell City Council unanimously approved the first reading of a planned unit development overlay zoning district on 10 acres for Northwest Healthcare.
City council and hospital management agreed to three additional conditions that addressed a north-south vehicle access near the hospital during construction.
The hospital worked out an agreement with the Medical Arts building west of the hospital for use of that parking lot for through traffic.
That was necessary due to a private road west of the hospital being closed during construction.
A crane and other equipment will be placed on the road during construction.
The council also discussed creating an east-side access on Buffalo Hill Drive that is gated and only used for emergency vehicle access.
City staff recommended against opening the east-side road to through traffic at this time, but a condition of approval requires a traffic study be completed by Dec. 31, 2011. Also required is completion of a pedestrian/bike path on the east side of the hospital near the water tower.
That trail is already nine-tenths complete, City Planning Director Tom Jentz said. He noted that the area around the water tower is fenced.
During public comment, Margaret Davis, a Charlotte Avenue resident who lives close to the hospital, said the revisions improve the project.
The $42 million hospital expansion would include a surgical services tower, which will include three floors and the potential to add two more.
Plans call for completion of phase one of construction by February 2012 and a phase two emergency-room expansion by September 2014.
Phase three of the 10-year plan calls for construction of a parking garage in 2015, while phase four would build a second parking garage in 2018.
Phase five would develop recreational vehicle parking and green spaces on the hospital campus in 2020. No date is projected for the construction of the fourth and fifth floors of the tower.