CITY PLANNING PANEL WARY OF HOSPITAL PLAN COMMISIONERS SEEK COMPROMISE.

Byline: JUDY O'ROURKE Staff Writer

SANTA CLARITA -- A Google Earth search shows exactly what's wrong with expansion plans at Henry Mayo Newhall Memorial Hospital, a city official said.

Unlike other Southern California medical centers, Santa Clarita's only hospital is closed in on two sides by homes whose residents don't want four-story medical buildings outside their kitchen windows.

Planning Commissioner Diane Trautman, who questions the wisdom of the planned grouping of auxiliary buildings, looked at images of other hospital campuses -- in Pasadena (Huntington Memorial), in Thousand Oaks (Los Robles) and in Northridge.

``What is striking to me about the images is that all of the hospitals are surrounded in part by residences and commercial and industrial,'' Trautman said. ``And where residential abuts the hospital property, there is a buffer of landscaped parking area. The homes are not immediately adjacent to multistory buildings.''

Newhall Memorial, facing competition in recent years from other medical groups and hospitals, is seeking city government's approval for its master plan, which would spell out how the facility could be built out over the next 25 years. Officials of the nonprofit hospital say continued success rests on attracting top specialists, and so medical buildings must be on campus for efficiency and improved patient care.

``We are in the process of ... putting together financing for the hospital that reaches out long-term ... over 25 the next years, (and) in part that financing is tied to the master plan,'' said James Hicken, treasurer for the hospital's board. ``The failure of the master plan will result in the failure of long-term financing the hospital will need to meet the long-term needs of the valley.''

The first phase of the proposed expansion would include a four-story medical office building, a five-story 120-bed hospital building near the new emergency room and a five-level parking garage, with one level underground. Two three-story medical office buildings and a parking structure would be built in the next phase.

Detailed facades depicted in elevation drawings Tuesday were an improvement over past submissions, planning commissioners said, but they continued to voice concern over the massive structures, the adequacy of noise and traffic studies and landscaping, and hospital officials' insistence on clustering medical offices on the campus.

``My bottom line is there needs to be a compromise. We have to cut back on the amount of medical office buildings and the size of the medical office buildings,'' Commissioner Michael Berger said.

Office buildings generate more traffic than the hospital does, and if the buildings are trimmed, parking structures could be eliminated or reduced in size, he said.

Roughly one-third of the hospital campus is owned by G&L Realty Corp., which develops medical-related properties. The company provided an infusion of cash when the hospital went into bankruptcy several years ago. However, the company can only lease space to doctors who are residents practicing at the hospital, hospital officials say.

A development agreement -- signed by representatives of the hospital, the city and G&L Valencia, LLC -- would be part of the plan.

City Attorney Joe Montes said a portion of the agreement pertaining to issues that could arise after the first two phases are built -- involving noise and traffic -- seemed unclear to the commissioners and the public and could be redrafted. The City Council would be approving all discretionary matters when and if it signs the agreement, though additional studies would be performed before the final phase is built.

The last phase includes a 90,000-square-foot medical office building, a hospital administration building and completion of a 100-bed hospital inpatient building.

``I'm looking forward to further clarification on the (agreement) because it's a 25-year commitment with a large impact and I want to make sure that the residents are going to see as much benefit as the applicant,'' Trautman said.

judy.orourke(at)dailynews.com

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