- Hellertown's Planning Commission agreed to advance a plan for a new LVHN micro-hospital
- The facility, which may accommodate up to 12,000 patients per year, features 11 emergency beds and 10 in-patient beds
- Pending further clearances from other authorities, construction may commence as early as late 2023
HELLERTOWN, Pa. — Lehigh Valley Health Network is one step closer to constructing a “micro-hospital” and medical offices at the former Champion spark plug factory following a borough planning commission meeting Tuesday night.
The project, a joint effort between Peron Development and J.G. Petrucci Co. Inc. intended for 1770 Main St., saw another review from the planning commission, with members opting to approve a preliminary filing with an intent that the developers would work with planning commission administrators for any further changes.
“We've worked on this for a pretty long time. We've had very, very good dialogue and connectivity with the staff here. They've been very helpful in allowing us to share concepts and ideas and getting some feedback that I think have enhanced the plan, and we'll continue that."Rob de Beer, director of development for Peron Development
Developers did request a few waivers regarding lighting on the site, which the commission saw fit to approve based on the layout of the area and the necessity to provide ample lighting for the facility.
Rob de Beer, director of development for Peron Development, noted there were no issues with comments and suggestions previously submitted by the commission, adding the developers would comply. He also noted similar comments appeared in communications with the Lehigh Valley Planning Commission.
According to Dallas Pulliam, vice president of real estate at LVHN, the hospital will see an estimated 10,000 to 12,000 patients per year.
“The plan is to have a full-service emergency department – it’ll have 11 beds, including one bed that is suitable for psychiatric patients, 10 in-patient beds, which will be designed for lower-acuity, less medically complicated patients,” Pulliam said.
“And then my head of the emergency department asked me to make sure to let you know you can have all services treated here, but that the higher-acuity more complicated patients will be stabilized at the location and transferred to one of the bigger hospitals to handle some of those issues.”
Plans and renderings show a proposed three-story building of about 90,000 square feet on the old Superfund site.
The hospital itself will encompass about 22,000 square feet.
The ground floor of the facility will consist of a “micro-hospital,” with the upper floors holding medical use offices.
A few residents raised concerns largely regarding traffic and parking, though representatives for the developers – along with the commission itself – tried to clear up misconceptions.
One individual questioned the developers, and the commission, on the assumption that the facility’s construction and planned entrances would impact on-street parking.
Engineer Bryan Smith clarified “This development does not propose any changes to on-street parking in that area.”
While there was some noted confusion as to how parking may be impacted or who would be responsible, Chairman Joseph Pampanin said there would be an impact on the area, though
“From Franklin to 412 on the south side of Kichline, there will be no more parking on that because you need two travel lanes to go through…” Pampanin said.
“Right, so that takes away our parking,” the citizen said.
“But there are seven spots that are going to be on the north side of Kichline that we're putting in as part of the right of way improvements,” Pampanin said.
Shortly thereafter, Pampanin also said "any development that's bigger is going to impact people. That's from a practical matter. There's nothing official that's going to change."
Smith, addressing the citizen, said "parking can be changed at any time."
The same individual also raised concerns about the frequency of emergency vehicles entering the facility and the chance that lights and sirens could affect those in the nearby community.
“The lights and sirens are used as a mechanism to get around traffic signals, as they start to approach the final destination, typically they're turned off,” de Beer said.
Dewey Frie Company Ambulance Squad Assistant Chief Matthew Skibo questioned the potential for the micro-hospital to overwhelm his company.
“I would hope the borough would understand as well, that the EMS as a whole in this country is strained, I'm strained, I’m strained with employees. It takes two years to get ambulances, so my ambulance is running up more miles having to take people out of here in emergency situations where they can't wait for a Medevac truck to come,” Skibo said.
“Now, they're going to say, ‘Oh, they're waiting for them at Cedar Crest,’ or ‘Oh, they're waiting for them at Muhlenberg.’ They're not going to say ‘I'll take them to St. Luke's’ – we know that's not going to happen. So I need to know that I'm going to have some backing at some point, with some, hopefully, amount of money that will be running through this hospital to help with purchasing ambulances to make up for that.”
Pulliam said he would connect with Skibo and his company to discuss the matter further.
Prior to the close of the meeting, where the commission put up a motion to approve the proposal with the suggested lighting waivers and the assurance that any further alterations to the plan would be worked out with Hellertown Planning Commission administrative staff and engineers, the plan was recommended for approval.
“We've worked on this for a pretty long time. We've had very, very good dialogue and connectivity with the staff here. They've been very helpful in allowing us to share concepts and ideas and getting some feedback that I think have enhanced the plan, and we'll continue that,” de Beer said.
