Town of Summit, Aurora working on hospital design

Construction could begin as early as spring

Waukesha Freeman, January 30, 2007

By JODY L. MAYERS
Freeman Staff

TOWN OF SUMMIT Aurora officials, the town of Summit plan commission, and the town board met last night to iron out various issues included in the plan for the new Aurora hospital.

Michael Scholl, core presenter from the Brookfield firm Hammes Co. which is working closely with Aurora in developing the hospital plans, said progress has been made.

I think the outstanding issues that have been addressed by the plan commission are valid and we will work hard to address them for the next meeting, he said.

Some of those outstanding issues include more information regarding traffic from the state Department of Transportation, timing of traffic lights, outdoor lighting, parking-lot design, more detailed plans regarding grading around the exterior perimeters of the building and construction sequencing.

This is the largest project that has ever been built in the town of Summit and the largest well probably see in years, said town Chairman Len Susa. As far as timeline, one of the last things to do in a project this large before occupancy such as lighting, parking lot and landscaping is so far down the road we are fortunate to make sure well get the type of landscaping we want. We have the time to iron out some of the issues.

The project includes a 593,000-square-foot, 110-bed hospital and 180,000-square-foot medical office building and clinic costing an estimated $189 million.

During the meeting, a brief video was shown highlighting a similar facility in Oshkosh that has already incorporated many of the same plans, such as a green roof top, naturally lit interior design, a walking trail, a healing garden, comfortable family rooms, brightly colored pediatric rooms and more.

One of my concerns is dewatering from the reconfiguration of the pond, said Jack Riley, town supervisor and plan commissioner. If de-watering is necessary, we ask that it is kept in the existing water shed so it wont have a negative effect on lake levels.

Town of Summit Fire Chief Milt Wegner has been following the Aurora proposal closely and said he even spent a day touring the Oshkosh facility to get a flavor of what was in store for the town.

When I was there, I met with the fire department to discuss what extra concerns theyve been faced with and what they would have done differently if they could do it over again, Wegner said. We are concerned about the size of this project from the departments standpoint, but so far Aurora has been very cooperative. We are just being extra cautious because it is such a big project we want to make sure its done right.

Aurora officials will reconvene with town board and plan commission members during a Feb. 15 meeting to present more detailed information regarding the issues that were brought up during last nights meeting. If the plan commission is pleased with the results, a motion to move forward with plans will be passed and construction could begin as early as spring for an expected completion date in 2009