Boulder Park North Association

BPNA Neighborhood Letter-March 2005

Mar 13, 2005

The members of the Boulder Park Neighborhood Association recently met to review Memorial Hospital?’s latest expansion plans and obtain input from our neighbors. The following are the issues of most concern to us at this time.

We strongly believe the hospital?’s Boulder Street campus will be at maximum density/use with the completion of the presently approved Master Plan. We recently learned that the lot coverage on the currently approved concept plan (approval date of 5/6/04) is understated by 5.8%, an error carried forward from the 2001 approved plan. Whereas the approved concept plan states a build-out lot coverage of 41.2%, in fact the lot coverage will be 47% as reflected on the enclosed map created by N.E.S. This 14% discrepancy puts into question what would have been approved in the past by all parties involved: the Boulder Park Neighborhood Association, City Council, and the City Planning Commission.

In accepting the Master Plan, the neighborhood in good faith made major concessions: (1.) the increase in footprint (from 38% to 47% as stated above), (2.) the addition of a third seven story tower (Women?’s & Children?’s Center) and (3.) a five story parking garage, which we later agreed to add two stories for employee parking. Since then, we have learned that each of these concessions has or will increase the negative impact to our neighborhood as outlined below.

The proposed seven story Cardiac Hospital / Doctor Office Tower includes a total of 221,500 square feet. The tower is four stories higher with a footprint 2.25 times larger and approximately 50 feet closer to the homes across Foote Avenue than the Administration Building presently approved for the area in the Master Plan.

We highly recommend the hospital use the space available in the presently approved plan to meet the proposed needs of a Cardiac Center and/or any future added services:

Approx. 81,000 sq. ft. ?– Administration Building ?– 4 story (basement included)
Approx. 153,000 sq. ft. ?– Building 16, Women?’s & Children?’s Center ?– 6th & 7th floors which the hospital has said they do not intend to complete now
but construction will allow for in the future.
Approx. 234,000 sq. ft. ?– available in the presently approved Master Plan.

Alternatives for expansion include the North Memorial Hospital campus, the Printer?’s Parkway Memorial campus, and the vacant lot on the Southwest corner of Boulder and Union, and/or changing the present use of the Cancer Center freeing up 59,000 square feet plus construction of an additional 27,000 square feet allowed in the present Plan.

Quality of Life Issues

The City of Colorado Springs Zoning Code states ?“It is the intent and purpose of the Zoning Code to protect property values, to preserve neighborhoods and to protect private property from adjacent nuisances such as noise, excessive traffic, incompatibility of uses, inappropriate design of buildings, and visual obstructions.?”

The proposed building will create many negative quality of life issues and would not meet the goals of the City?’s Zoning Code:

Visual impact to the neighborhood: A building this size will overbuild the hospital campus and will not visually fit into the residential neighborhood, obstructing the views for surrounding homes. The homes on Foote Avenue will be most adversely impacted. The tower will create shadows over homes in the morning as far West as Hancock St. We would like to obtain pictures of an independent Shadow Study covering the time from 6:30 a.m. to noon on a sunny day in December. Neighbors directly west of this proposed tower have health/safety concerns regarding the lack of morning sunlight in their homes, yards and walks.
Traffic: The use of this proposed tower (doctor offices) will increase the number of visits to this campus by doctors, employees & patients. We request the opportunity to review an independent traffic study outlining the anticipated total daily number of visits to the site once a Cardiac Center is completed.
Parking: Hospital representatives have told us the parking requirements for the proposed office building will force approximately 500 employees to park off site once again. The neighborhood compromised and agreed to the additional 2 stories (6th & 7th floors) of the parking garage to specifically accommodate the hospital employees. What are your long-term plans to bring all parking back on site? Will a new parking garage be added to this site? We feel this parking issue should be resolved prior to any additional doctor offices being brought to this site. We request an updated ?“Parking Needs?” study be completed including present and planned for services on site:
- number of beds per building (now and future)
- square footage of doctor office space per building (now and future)
- number of outpatient surgical units per building (now and future)
- number of visits to the Emergency Room (now and future)
- number of employees at full capacity per building (daytime)
Noise: With each new building, the neighborhood experiences additional noise from the building electrical systems and increased traffic on site. With this proposed use we expect additional helicopter flights. We request the opportunity to review the independent noise studies for the additional use of the site.
Lighting: With each new tower, the neighborhood experiences additional problems with light pollution. Lighting in and on the top of the tower and around the building are of particular concern. The neighbors still have concerns regarding the present lighting on the new seven story garage. We request all lighting issues be resolved prior to approval of any amendment to the Master Plan.
Water & Drainage: We understand the new garage building cut into an existing underground ?“river.?” What impact will the proposed building have on the existing underground ?“river??” We have been told Memorial Hospital is currently pumping hundreds of gallons of water out of this ?“river?” on a daily basis. A number of residential wells in the neighborhood have since gone dry. What continued and/or increased impact does this have on the well water available to private property owners and what impact will this and additional disturbance have on the geological formations under existing homes? Is the pumped water being used by the hospital or disposed of in the sewer system? We request an independent comprehensive environmental impact study be conducted prior to any decision to amend the present Master Plan.

During the summer of 2004, a heavy rain storm filled the current drainage pipe running down Foote Avenue blowing off the manhole cover located in the middle of the 500 block of Foote. The manhole was left open and exposed for hours. We understand this system was redesigned and modified during the construction of the garage. What impact will the proposed building have on the sewer system?

Any or all of these issues may lead to a reduction in private property values, as well as additional expense due to loss of the well water, in the surrounding Boulder Park Neighborhood. We do not want our neighborhood to look like those around other inner city hospitals, i.e. Denver hospitals. Therefore, we request that all independent studies be completed and reviewed by all interested parties prior to the approval of any amendment to the presently approved Master Plan.

Planning Issues

Why wasn?’t the current BPNA/Hospital workgroup informed in a timely manner of the details regarding this project? The workgroup has been meeting since early 2000 and yet they weren?’t given the design plans until January, 2005 with a proposed construction start date of June, 2005.

What is the root cause for the ?“fast tracking?” of this project? As outlined above,
this proposal requires a detailed and measured examination of the impact it will
have on the hospital site and the impact to the neighborhood.

What happened to the hospital?’s commitment to the neighborhood to ?“complete one building at a time??”

What do you consider maximum lot coverage of seven story buildings for the main campus site? You will soon have the fourth completed and are requesting
the fifth seven story building on this site.

Are there still plans to expand the existing Cancer Center?

Please provide us with the date for the tear-down of the old buildings at Foote and Boulder. Prior to tear-down of the old Health Department building and those
on the Southwest corner of the property, we request the opportunity to review a
complete asbestos survey by an independent consultant.

Construction Issues

We have concerns regarding the impact of construction on the neighborhood with two buildings under construction at the same time: noise, traffic, parking, trash, dust & air pollution, etc. We have been told residents along Foote Avenue received minor plaster cracks during the last two construction projects due to heavy equipment pounding the ground. Will the hospital reimburse property owners for this and future damages?

There is a current construction project underway. With the additional sewer project (tear-up of Boulder between Foote and Hancock) and if construction on the proposed project starts in June, how will patients being transported to the hospital and the homes around the hospital not be adversely affected?

We believe it is critical the hospital keep its commitment to the neighborhood to complete one project at a time to reduce impact of construction on the surrounding neighbors.

Neighborhood Involvement

The ?“Small Group?” from our neighborhood which has worked with the hospital in the past has been expanded to include several people who live in the homes which will be directly impacted by this proposed project.

We look forward to receiving the requested information in a timely manner and meeting with hospital representatives to discuss our concerns and recommendations.

In closing, we realize delivery of medical services is constantly changing; however, this 15 acre hospital site will never get larger and the impact to the neighborhood will not change. In 1999, we recommended the hospital purchase land in northern Colorado Springs or build on their 30 acre Printers Parkway site to avoid over crowding on the Boulder Street campus. Both locations are viable options for this proposed project.

We understand that many of the people who would have institutional knowledge of the agreements and understanding between Memorial Hospital and the Boulder Park Neighborhood are no longer involved with the hospital. We hope this letter will provide information helpful in reconsidering this proposed project.


Sincerely,


Karen Schwartz, Chairperson
Boulder Park Neighborhood Association

cc: Memorial Hospital Board of Trustees
Colorado Springs City Council
Mr. Steve Tuck, Senior Planner, City
Planning
Mr. Tim Seibert, N.E.S.

Enc: N.E.S. Map