The Montgomery County Board of Appeals approved Suburban Hospital’s proposed campus expansion project Oct. 20. The hospital will add more space for private patient rooms, physician offices, parking and new operating rooms.
Representatives from Huntington Terrace Citizens’ Association spoke out against the proposal at the Board of Appeals hearings because the expansion calls for the demolition of 23 nearby homes that the hospital owns.
The Board of Appeals delayed the decision after a Sept. 15 hearing to approve the $230 million expansion. The hospital had failed to gain the necessary approval for over five years.
However, hospital officials argued the space is necessary to accommodate new technology that has developed since the hospital’s last expansion in 1979.
Ronna Borenstein-Levy, spokesperson for the Suburban expansion project, said the opponents’ proposed alternative of vertical expansion is not feasible.
“The existing hospital buildings cannot structurally support vertical expansion, nor is there sufficient space around the existing hospital to accommodate the addition and still meet County zoning regulations,” she said.
Throughout the negotiation process, the hospital made some concessions to appease community concerns, including the elimination of plans for a separate physician office building.
Dan Keen, a neighbor of Suburban Hospital, said the benefits from a larger facility outweigh any potential harms.
“If you or your loved ones were in the unfortunate position of needing hospital care, would you want to go to the hospital that Suburban and its experts thought would be best for you, or to the hospital that the HTCA thought would be best for you?” Keen said.
Senior Alexa Ciesinski, who interns at Suburban, said the proposed parking spaces are a needed change.
“Suburban Hospital has the worst parking ever,” she said. “I had to wait 45 minutes to get a spot one day, and it was absolutely terrible. You see people coming in and they’re just lined up for one space.”
Once begun, the construction is expected to take 45 months.
