By JOSEPH KELLARD
The Renaissance Project includes construction of a five-story wing in front of the hospital's current front entrance on Oswald Court, a 1,200-square-foot expansion to the emergency unit's waiting room, 260 additional spaces in the parking lot east of One Health Way, six additional parking spaces on south Oswald Court (requiring that a house owned by the hospital be demolished), and a 90-space parking lot on Oceanside Road near the corner of Nassau Parkway (requiring that three houses owned by SNCH be demolished).
Responding to outcries from residents, SNCH scrapped two proposals from its original Renaissance application: a new driveway for ambulances on Oceanside Road, almost directly across from School 5, and a 25-space parking lot on Washington Avenue, between Nassau Parkway and Oswald Court, which would require the demolition of two other hospital-owned homes.
Both Joseph Quagliata, president of SNCH, and Andrew Triolo, assistant vice president of design, development and construction, told the zoning board that the last major additions to the hospital were built during the early 1970s. Due to changes in building codes, such as those required by the Americans with Disabilities Act, exponential growth in technology and increased hospital standards, which necessitate larger and more single-patient rooms, and newer demands, such as preparedness for bio-terrorism, it is "essential" that the hospital expand, they argued.
The new wing, featuring an enlarged lobby, conference center and maternity, patient-care and behavioral-health units, would not increase the number of beds SNCH currently provides, but would instead serve to condense and unite these and other units that are scattered throughout the hospital, Quagliata said. "We'll be providing the same services in a modern and appropriate way," he told the board.
Harold Mahoney, a member of SNCH's board of directors, testified that since interest rates are presently at historical lows, it is more urgent for the hospital to expand now, since a 1 percent increase in those rates could add $18 million to the Renaissance Project's $92 million cost.
Michael Haberman, a real estate appraiser who testified on the project's impact on property values of homes near the hospital, concluded, "What the hospital is proposing, if anything it may have a positive effect, because you end up ultimately with a newer, more modern and better-looking facility. And this facility is basically going to be contained within the hospital property as it exist today."
While Haberman's analysis consisted of an assemblage of appraisals of homes over the past 30 months, he said the key to his analysis was the sale of homes near the hospital, 71 of which were sold over that time span. However, he added that there is a detrimental impact on the sale prices of homes on Oceanside Road.
Robert Reilly, a resident of Washington Avenue and spokesman for the opposition, asked Haberman in cross-examination if the three homes the hospital would demolish on Oceanside Road to install the 90-space parking lot would further impact the property values of homes directly across from it. "The homes on Oceanside Road have already built into it this self-inflicted impact," Haberman said, "and I don't think you're going to see an additional impact because of the reconstruction into a parking lot."
After viewing illustrations of the proposed north wing displayed at the hearing, Arlene Rudin, who resides at the corner of Nassau Parkway and Washington Avenue, told the board, "It absolutely will have a negative impact on property values. It's like a modern monolith. The front of the hospital has a more colonial look now. This modern design will not fit in with the houses in the area."
SNCH presently has a combined 868 parking spaces, but after renovations there will be 1,120, which Triolo claims would alleviate problems with parking around the hospital that residents complain about.
"By adding 33 percent more parking, the hospital is just adding more cars to an already congested area," said Tony Basile, a resident of Nassau Parkway. "And the main concern of residents in that area is the school."
Basile also argued that SNCH should have notified the entire Oceanside community about its proposal, not just residents who live within 100 feet of its property lines. Triolo said that the hospital informed various people throughout the community about the proposed renovations, including the Fire Department, Chamber of Commerce and service organizations such as the Rotary and Kiwanis Clubs.
The Renaissance Project will take between 24 and 30 months to complete, depending on the weather, and if approved, the hospital plans to begin construction in September, completing all of the parking sites within three or four months before starting on the new wing, Triolo said.
Before then, SNCH will install a 69-space employee parking lot on property it owns on Oceanside Road immediately north of School 5, a proposal approved at a zoning hearing in February 2002. To accommodate residents' concerns about noise and dust with this lot's construction, the hospital will built it when school is out, between June and Labor Day, Triolo said.
In his closing statement, Reilly listed among his concerns the negative impact on traffic he expects to result from the hospital's additional parking, particularly when "450 parents are trying to get their children to school," and the noise that will accompany the project's 30-month-long construction and its impact on the students at School 5.
