Henry Mayo's Master Plan Questions & Answers
The Santa Clarita City Council will be holding a public hearing next Tuesday, August 28th at 6:00 p.m. in City Hall chambers regarding Henry Mayo Newhall Memorial Hospital's proposed master plan.
This process began over three years ago and many changes have been made to the plan. Below are a series of questions that answer what a Master Plan is and what impacts the approval on the Hospital's Master Plan would have on the Santa Clarita Valley.
What is a Master Plan?
A Master Plan is an approved city document that will specify what can be built on the hospital campus over the next 15 years. A Master Plan allows for better community planning for the City and saves the Hospital money in the future by not having to go through the planning process every time a new building is added to the campus.
What are benefits of the Master Plan?
Henry Mayo is a non-profit community hospital dedicated to the growing and changing healthcare needs of the Santa Clarita Valley. The Master Plan will give the Hospital the tools necessary to plan for the future, obtain private investment for needed infrastructure, attract more top medical talent to the campus and build a new in-patient facility with up to 120 new hospital beds. The Master Plan will also include an intensive care unit, a neo-natal intensive care unit, operating rooms and new private rooms for maternity patients.
What's the first improvement to occur from the Master Plan?
Constructing a new 750-space parking structure on campus to relieve the current shortfall will be the first order of business. The structure will include one level of subterranean parking for aesthetic purposes. The top floor will be dedicated to a helipad so the hospital can remain a trauma center.
Does the expansion plan prevent another hospital from being built in the East Valley?
No. Currently Henry Mayo has about 42% market share in the Santa Clarita Valley. Even with the expansion, projections show that Henry Mayo's potential market penetration isn’t likely to exceed 50%.
Why does Henry Mayo need medical office buildings on campus?
The growing demand for healthcare, particularly outpatient services, is behind the need for medical office space. Furthermore, the need for proximity between the physician specialists and the Hospital is driven by the economics of today's healthcare system. Physician specialists and hospitals both benefit through the efficiencies gained by
operating on the same campus together. Actually, everyone benefits when specialist physicians are on the hospital campus - particularly emergency and trauma patients.
In addition, the Hospital will be relocating 40,000 square feet of services from the existing hospital to the first medical building to allow the construction of 50% more critical care beds.
Why is building a helipad necessary?
The Los Angeles County Department of Health Services Emergency Medical Services Agency requires trauma center hospitals to have a helipad.
Henry Mayo is the only trauma center is the Santa Clarita Valley and provides for a 680-mile trauma service area that includes a long stretch of I-5. The Hospital averaged less than 8 helicopter trips a month and many of those were life-or-death situations.
Who is G&L Realty and why are they involved in the hospital expansion?
G&L Realty is a real estate developer and investor that owns, acquires, develops, manages and leases healthcare properties. They own properties on or near hospital in California including a medical building next to Providence Holy Cross Hospital in Mission Hills. Henry Mayo benefits primarily from the G&L Realty participation as a capital partner. For example the development of the first medical building will require a minimum $25 million investment. If the Hospital had to make the investment to develop this medical building, then they would have to divert much needed capital resources needed for medical care, medical equipment and the development of its own facilities.
When G&L Realty focuses their investment in the medical buildings, it frees up available capital for the Hospital to maximize healthcare delivery to our community.
What will the Hospital do to mitigate traffic?
To lessen the impact in the surrounding neighborhood Henry Mayo has agreed to a provision in the Development Agreement requiring it to implement all of the traffic mitigations before ever occupying a single new building.
Mitigations include: Paying for traffic signal synchronization up to 20 intersections surrounding the campus; providing new right turn deceleration lanes at entrances to the hospital campus from westbound McBean at Orchard Village and the westerly entrance; and Increasing all of the turn pockets at Orchard Village and McBean Parkway to ensure greater efficiency and movement of traffic without blocking through traffic.
Most importantly the hospital will present the City with an irrevocable offer of dedication of hospital property along McBean Parkway. This will allow the city to widen McBean Parkway to improve traffic flow and to guarantee that no private property will ever have to be taken as a result of this project.
What has the Hospital changed in response to the community?
Addressing concerns of the community and City Council the Hospital has significantly modified and reduced the size of the project. Changes include a reduction in overall square footage, reduced massing and height of buildings along McBean Parkway, and additional setback of buildings from the street and neighbors. Additionally, the Master Plan has been trimmed from the original 25 years to 15 years.
The current master plan calls for three medical office buildings and none of those buildings exceed three stories in height. The new five-story in-patient building is located in the center of campus. Enhanced architecture will be applied to all buildings to reflect the look of Valencia. All parking structures will have at least one level of subterranean parking to reduce massing and improve the aesthetics of the campus.
What is a Development Agreement and why does the Hospital need one?
A development agreement (DA) provides a benefit to both Henry Mayo and the community. For Henry Mayo it offers stability that will allow the non-profit hospital to borrow money at a lower interest rate when it finances construction projects. For the City the development agreement provides assurances and defines community benefits.
Some of the highlights in the proposed DA are: The Hospital will frontload all of the required traffic mitigation improvements, at a cost of $2.5 million, before the first building is occupied; the Hospital will lease at least 40,000 square feet (50%) of the first Medical Building, creating the ability to provide additional intensive care beds in the current Hospital space and take fuller advantage of the new cardiac cath labs currently under construction; the third Medical Building only gets built when the inpatient building begins construction; private maternity rooms will be included in the new inpatient building, and the Hospital will continue its efforts in support of the new location for a TCU in the community.
Why is the hospital re-circulating an Environmental Impact Report (EIR)?
The placement of subterranean parking structures and consideration of a new roadway alternative to improve traffic flow warrant a review in accordance with the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA). Additionally, it's to the benefit of all stakeholders involved that the EIR be reflective of the most current Master Plan under consideration today by City Council.