Broadlands Hospital

Good point I never thought of it that way. Yes and what if some doctors and nurses and other specialist move over from INOVA to HCA does that make them instantly a better professional. Inquiring minds wants to know There is already a shortage of people in the medical profession. Excellent question MT Rodgers.

Lee j

Lee j

 

What I would like to know is how many people go to Fairfax or Reston because they don't like the services in Loudoun. Several in this post have already said they go outside Loudoun. If patients leave the county then you really can't get a "real" percentage of capacity in a whole. The ratio would be a bit skewed.

 

IMO showing people what the hospital would look like is a waste of time. Residents in the area don't want a hospital...Period. It could look like several SFHs and it would still have opposition. As mentioned before. It has nothing to do with asthestics. It's the service itself. Seems like people would prefer your ugly flex buildings over any hospital.

 

YAWN...here we go again.

 

I ran calls as an EMT for AVFD at one time. We would bring patients to the ER and the halls were already lined with patients who couldn't get a room in the ER. We had to transport a woman with a high risk pregnancy to her hospital (G-Town, where her specialist practiced) at 1am on a very snowy night, otherwise her husband would have had to leave their young sleeping children while he took her or she had to drive herself - and she was very far along.

I myself had to go to Fair Oaks and Reston for cardiac procedures that couldn't at the time be done at LHC - the last one being only 2 years ago. Now they finally have the ability to do what I needed.

Also, I believe that Fairfax is still the only Level 3 trauma hospital in the local area.

12 years ago, when we moved into Ashburn, I believe there were only 35K people living in Loudoun County, now we have 250K. So do we need it or not? HMMM...

 

Lee-
No hostility meant at all. Just wanted you to know that there were many meetings and opportunities for people to see the plans. I'm sure if the process moves forward, there will be more. I thought by your post you thought the plans hadn't been made public. I agree that the more public input, the better.

 

Lee-
I don't have the numbers for the square footage difference between the hospital and the office park, but I do remember the hospital total square footage is significantly less than the office park.

They do have a plan that shows the limits of clearing. I don't have that one.

You keep referring to "high rise parking garage." It is four levels, including the ground level.

Even if the medical office buildings were as big as the school admin building (I'm 99% sure they are not), two plus the hospital building is better than the 7 planned for the site as an office park.

 

I don't know what they are today. When BRMC was approved, I believe it was over 100%.

 

And there are many residents that do, and many residents that don't care one way or another. And you are right....those that oppose it won't care what it looks like. In fact, contrary to what Lee might think, the look of the building was rarely mentioned at the meetings I attended and most were satisified that parking would not be a problem. The concern over parking was that there wouldn't be enough and people would park on the residential streets. The addition of the parking garage to the plan eliminated that concern.

 

New to this forum. Just can't help myself. There should not be a hospital built in Broadlands. Our great neighborhood would be subject to lots of traffic, noise, pollution, safety concerns, etc....

 

Cliff,

I wrote that wrong. Sorry. Didn't mean residents as a whole don't want the hospital. It was only about the residents who don't want the hospital.

 

First we it is hard to say anything about the office buildings because there are no plans for any. So everything being said about the office park are just scare tactics from the pro hospital people. The current fantasy office site plan is just that nothing until an Architect is retained and designs the REAL project. The fantasy placement of what we see on the placement of those fantasy office buildings means absolutely nothing.

Cliff you are talking like someone scare3d to give direct answers unless prodded. The total square footage of the hospital plan including the parking garage compared to the amount allowed on that site is important. The limits of clearing is absolutely critical so the residents really know what they are getting in real buffers with mature trees compared to newly planted twigs. If the lot is clear cut then there will be light pollution as well as visual pollution from the already sited hospital plan.

There is a ratio for parking to sq ft and the type of use of the property. Critical to know the allowed sq ft for the property for current zoning compared to the sq ft for a rezoning change.

The clearing plan is also critical tells the real story. Seeing the actual layout of the buildings the parking and heights using balloons and surveyor tape also gives the residents a visual in reality not an architects rendering that is showing everything in the best possible views and hides all the negatives. The location of lights and where the service entrance for waste etc is also necessary for the residents to see what they are getting. The amount of truck traffic is also important. There should be studies on every aspect of this hospital from traffic studies to appraisals studies of the surrounding properties taking in account of current conditions not studies that are old.

And there is a lot more that the public needs to be aware of including what is there to keep the hospital from expanding in the buffers, where is the legal papers on that and is it written with those funny words that nobody understands but could allow the hospital an out to build on those buffers at an later date. I do have many friends including my brother and other family that are lawyers. I hear about how contracts can be broken that are poorly written.

There are a lot of questions unanswered. The pretty renderings don't ever tell the real story. The real story is in the details not the pretty pictures. That what our county government is there for to protect all the residents from unappropriated development like the last board did at least on this project they voted correctly. And lets not divert the attention to other things on this topic and subject and lets get written facts and studies not just a bunch of rhetoric and somebody that can explain it from individuals that are not poisoned about this hospital one way or another. It seems the pro hospital people so far want us to roll over dead and accept everything they say besides looking at construction documents which should be explained by an unbiased professional so the average person can know in simple terms what really is going to be built and cleared on every inch of that property and uses surveyor tape and balloons to get an visual of what and how it will look on that property beyond the renderings that only show it in the best light.

Lee j

Lee j

 

I am glad you qualified that statement because 12 years ago we had almost four times 35,000 people in Loudoun county.

 

Cliff,
Would it be a worthwhile endeavour to reach out the the residents of the Broadlands with a survey to find out what their opinions are? Or is it the case that their opinions really don't matter to the HCA or HOA?

 

For those of you who would deny that a hospital will harm property values...
Imagine some scenarios of a real estate agent showing a home to prospective buyers... "and your view from the deck is of...

a. a hospital"
b. a playground"
c. a restaurant in an antique New England Farmhouse"
d. a wooded buffer that will always be preserved"

Hmmm, now which one would you choose, if they were identical homes at the same price? OK... I am going to assume that is supply and demand, which is the main controller of housing prices (not the cost of building supplies).

Folks, what are the three L's of Real Estate??? Location, Location and Location. Many buyers (myself included) are so sensitive to the location of their HOME, that it is a "positive" to have your property adjacent to an elementary school, while it is a "negative" to be adjacent to a high school.

 

Well Mr Rogers, you bring up a valid point. However, in our experience, promised wooded buffers usally disappear. Now as far as location goes, can I sell you living in one of the new million dollar homed VM is builidng with frontage and a soon to be widened Belmont Ridge Road...? Tee Hee

 

Uh, and NOVA native, sorry i got that wrong. so much has changed here since 1995 it is almost ghastly. Moved to McLean at 15 so I may not be a native but have been here (Geesh, way longer than I thought I'd be). I can remember when the toll road to Dulles had nothing but houses next to it. Only one mall at Tyson's, etc. In fact, I remember the route 28 interchange at Route 7 when it was being built "way out in the boonies!" And of course Waxpool road without but one stoplight.

 

Well start with the county approved engineered limits of clearing plan that is the first sheet I look for.

The renderings may look beautiful but did the architect draw in 50 year old trees that do not exist. Makes a beautiful rendering but has nothing to do with reality.

Then go into all the lawyer fine print and see if they (Hospital) can through very fancy lawyer language someday tear down the buffers and the park etc for future expansion.
Is the promise of buffers and a park full proof. We are not dealing with an normal development in a hospital as hospitals always want to expand beyond promised full build out. The basic infrastructure of an hospital especially inside is extremely expensive to repeat in a new hospital so believe me when the time comes they will do the impossible to expand rather then build another hospital to expand.

And this is only the beginning of the fantasy of what they are telling us compared to the eventual reality.

If they are possibly lying about the buffers in those renderings making them look 25 years old or older then what other lies are there that we don't know about???

We don't care what this is going to look like in 25 years we care about what it will look like today. And this is just the beginning of the hard questions to be aksed questions to be asked. Let's not be scared by the fact that an office project would be much worse because we have no plans to an office project that is fantasy and the hospital is the current reality.

Sorry Cliff if I am asking questions you don't like or they are being answered from old data and market conditions.

Rodgers is correct location location and Cliff you are sitting on top of the hill with that billion dollar view are not going to be the least effected by this hospital. So are you going to answer with your favorite answer that people should of known better then to buy a home by the hospital if and when their property values could be destroyed by neighboring development such as an hospital. You seem to love quote how stupid people are when they buy first then later a ugly neighboring development happens how their property is now a mistake.

A good professional city planner will find a win win and make sure the neighboring developments are good neighbors and are buffered correctly from day one not waiting 25 to 50 years for the buffer to take effect. That is what our newly appointed planning commissioners should be doing also. Make sure development is compatible and good neighbors for all. Broadlands is an suburban development with homes directly across from this site and the farms have homes possibly even closer to this hospital across the greenway and are buffered very nicely from the greenway but will not be from an hospital rising way above their buffer of trees and the proposed helipad affecting them even more then the broadlands. THere are a zillion unanswered questions about the potential negative effects of this hospital.

We need to be sensitive to all residents in this county from the potential negative effects of any development and people that are there first take priority when future development is proposed adjoining or near their property..

There are no mistakes in development only poor decisions by the professional planners, planning commissioners and ultimately the County supervisors that make the final decision on future development.

I will repeat existing built residences should always take first priority to all proposed and future development period.

Lee j

 

As they would with any other commercial development of millions of square feet. That;s what's planned for Broadlands Blvd. Feel free to read the 64 pages of this thread, and there are sevral other older even longer ones, to catch up on the debate!

 

Good lord Lee, that's a laugh coming from you!!!! I have asked you a question 4 times on these forums, but you refuse to answer!!!!!!
Are you going to answer it now?
You have not lifted a finger to do ANY research on this issue, other than bang away on your keyboard, assume a high and mighty "I know all" position that is based on your own conjectures and inflated imaginary knowledge..
I honestly don't think you know a darn thing about this hospital, what has transpired in the past, zoning laws, or the public process.
If you want questions answered, why don't you ask HCA? I'm sorry I don't know every detail about the project the day you ask.
I will say this....I know for a FACT the square footage is significantly less with the hospital than the office park. I'm sorry I don't have instant recall of the exact numbers. And you know what? It wouldn't matter....you would just dismiss it or not acknowledge it and go off on another rant.