New hospital plans envision expansion

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, January 30, 2007

By AMY RINARD

Summit A proposed $189 million Aurora hospital and clinic complex planned for the southeast corner of I-94 and Highway 67 has been designed to anticipate significant future expansion, town officials learned Monday.

In the first in-depth presentation on Aurora Health Care's plans for the hospital, town officials heard more details on site and operating issues ranging from storm water management to parking lot lighting.

There was considerable discussion during the joint meeting of the Plan Commission and Town Board about the plan's options for expanding the medical center by either building one or two more floors onto certain sections of the complex, or by building an addition to one of the wings of the structure.

Town officials questioned whether the parking lots and storm water handling systems could accommodate an expanded facility. Aurora officials said the storm water systems were planned to handle a larger  facility and that the currently planned parking lots could accommodate
some of the additional need but more lots and possibly a parking structure could be needed.

The Plan Commission could give Aurora an initial go-ahead for the project as soon as next month.

"This is the largest project that has ever been built in the Town of Summit," said Chairman Len Susa.

The new 792,000-square-foot hospital, which in some parts is four stories tall, and the adjacent Aurora Wilkinson Medical Clinic complex are expected to open in the summer of 2009, Aurora officials said.

The plan is an expanded and costlier version of one proposed for the same site two years ago. It adds 22 beds and about $23 million to the latest cost figure revealed during a legal battle over previous plans to build the new Aurora hospital in Oconomowoc.

Town officials raised questions and asked for more details on Aurora's storm water and site grading plan, integration of the site into the town's bike trail system, configuration of the parking lots, exterior lighting, traffic patterns and road signs and construction timelines.

Yet to be concluded is a revised agreement under which Aurora will make payments to the town in lieu of property taxes on the tax exempt hospital portion of the medical complex.

Town Planner/Administrator Henry Elling said town officials have been working on a draft of such a payment plan, which would be included in the overall developer's agreement with Aurora. But, he said, no formal negotiations with Aurora on a payment agreement have begun.

"The draft is really to make sure we cover everything because we really haven't had any project of this magnitude before in the town," Elling said.

The project's increased size and cost has generated concern over the new hospital's impact on health care costs in the region, a question that has followed the project over nearly six years of debate. Some area employers have said the additional hospital beds, to be located about three miles from Oconomowoc Memorial Hospital, are not needed.

But David Ulery, an Oconomowoc doctor and president of the Wilkinson Clinic, has said the number of beds in the proposed hospital was increased as a result of the time that had elapsed since the proposal first was announced, more detailed population growth and market demand projections, and a desire to avoid inconveniencing patients by building an addition a few years after opening.

Town officials have supported the hospital project for the site, known as the Summit triangle, since Aurora first proposed to build its new hospital there two years ago. That followed the Oconomowoc Common
Council's vote to block construction of the hospital near the northeast corner of I-94 and Highway 67 at another site in Pabst Farms.

The originally proposed hospital site in the city now is included in plans for a large upscale shopping mall.