July 19 Planning Commission Hearing Comments

Homer,

The distance between the Worldcomm site and Broadlands is less than a mile or two. Exactly how is it that if they want to put it in Broadlands it is because they want access to the "rich" but if they put in in Wordlcomm they are not doing the same thing? Also, why is it wrong for a hospital to choose a location that provides them access to patients that can afford their services?

 

It's not wrong - if they are wanted. You tell me what the difference is betwen locations. I think if the chose worldcomm to begin with non of this would be an issue.

Question: Are all of you pro HCA defending having the hospital, HCA, or both. I can understand the hospital issue but defending the ethics of this company and the way it goes about its business, I just don't know. My goal on this forum is to make sure people see this for what this is. HCA is not some fuzzy bunny coming here in sunshine and goodness. They're here to further their own goals and to make money and once here all their promise could go poof.

 

Adding to what flynnibus stated, I don't belive the property by MCI/Worldcom was on the market when HCA first proposed building a hospital in Broadlands and it also wasn't on the market when they bought the Broadlands property. Now that HCA has the property and an approved COPN for the property, they aren't about to let it go and buy property elsewhere so they can spend $$ to start the COPN process all over again.

 

No they won't. Just like they won't do anything w/o being forced to do so.

 

Homer,

You're raking HCA over the coals pretty hard. What makes you think they will be such a bad neighbor? It seems to me when the community goes to them w/a concern they listen and adapt if they can. They haven't appeared argumentitive or hard to work with. I think they may welcome resident input and want to work with them.

For those of you that keep saying they should go to MCI and that the debate isn't over for that. HCA does own the land in the Broadlands, they are paying taxes on it. There COPN is site specific and they can't move now. It really is a mute point to argue over.

 

Related to the WorldCom location, was it even available? Maybe HCA got a better price in Broadlands? Too many ???'s in my mind. HCA CHOSE Broadlands, Broadlands sold, hopefully they will get to build.

 

"This stuff about HCA problems happened over five years ago, when over 65% of the healthcare industry was under investigation. Much has changed within the industry since then, and many of the lessons learned have been corrected."

I am paraphrasing, the President of a heathcare consulting and management services company. He has had a significant and long term relationship with Loudoun Hospital.

 

when was the HCA land bought? MCI/UU/Wcom had for sale signs on all the surrounding property since like 99 or so...

 

It was bought right after the first COPN was rejected and before the second was sent in.

 

I feel i need to rebuttal some of the remarks you made here.

First of all, over 300 of your Broadlands neighbors and countless other residents of Loudoun disagree with you that this is a great location for a hospital. The major convergence of north/south and east/west routes in Eastern Loudoun is not at Belmont Ridge (which won't be expanded until 2008-10 according to the VDOT web site) but rather at the Loudoun County Parkway and Greenway, which is (surprise) adjacent to the Worldcom Campus. It is also not a done deal that the emegency entrance to the proposed BRMC will be off Belmont Ridge. Even if it is, I still suspect that a lot of ambulance traffic will come along Broadlands Blvd, especially from other parts of Ashburn. And you minimize the potential impact of helicopter traffic. Living along Broadlands Blvd, I am not anxious to hear 2-5 helicopter trips a week (many in the wee hours) flying overhead. Nor are the Ashburn Farm residents who will bear the brunt of these trips.

While I agree that most speakers at the hearing were supportive of addtional health care in the county, that does not mean that they necessarily agreed we needed another hospital. Those of us in Broadlands are fortunate to have a number of hsopital options available to us within 20 minutes. Do we really need another hospital? What's wrong with additional urgent care facilities (with extended hours) to take the load off the ERs? What's wrong with more ambulatory surgery centers? Why can't the existing hospitals in Loudoun, Reston and Fair Oaks be expanded to provide higher quality inpatient care and more inpatient services rather that buidling another hospital? In some cases you could convert services that reallyl don't need to be in a hospital (like day surgery) into more inpatient services.

While I agree that Cliff generally does a good job in representing Broadlands resident needs, he did not speak for Broadlands at the hearing. Instead, he was stating his own views. I applaud him for presenting the survey results that showed a small majority of Broadlands residents opposed to the hospital. Many other Broadlands residents took the podium that night to express their opposition.

It seems to me that with all the strong feelings on both sides of the issue, there should be some way to compromise, such that residents get better health services, but don't have to put up with a large hospital. Perhaps some combination of urgent care/ambulatory sugery/medical office complex would fit the bill???

 

Two things that were clearly learned at the hearing:
1) The fear tactic spread in Tony Raker's and Donna's letters about nightclubs, research facilities, drive through restaurants, etc. being built on the mysterious 4 acre parcel of property were shown as the blatant misrepresentations that they are.
To the contrary, HCA's intent is to have the residents of Broadlands have a say in how this property will be developed to BENEFIT the community. Several ideas are already out there. I have been working on HCA for a year and a half to let the community have input on this piece of property. Donna was also aware of this ongoing discussion. She simply chooses not to believe them.
When the hospital is eventually approved, I look forward to meeting with residents to see what type of use we would like to see.

2) It was very clearly pointed out by the county staff that this hospital and associated medical office buildings will produce LESS traffic than the by-rights office park.

 

Cliff, don't forget this...HCA can start building a medical building tomorrow if they choose to. That is permissible under the current zoning. People have been saying that a medical building produces more traffic then an office building. That point doesn't matter becuase that whole strip could be medical buildings and there is nothing any of the residents could do about it. That's why you should look at the whole plan around your house before you buy to make sure you won't have anything developed that you don't want to live near. Commercial use is commercial use and it includes medical buildings.

 

You have to be a lawyer to understand the plans. Plus, lets just say that all the plans I ever saw were 'misrepresented'.