Neighbors look to shape hospital expansion plan

Residents near Holy Cross meet with architect on designs for additional rooms and parking

An additional 75 rooms to address a projected increase in the hospital’s patient load, especially among the senior population, also could be part of the hospital’s plans, according to materials provided to residents by the hospital.

At a Monday night meeting with neighbors and the hospital’s architect, Phil Tobey, options to expand the existing site included construction on the south side where the hospital’s power plant currently operates, and building atop the north surface parking area of the hospital, the most visible lot for residents along Forest Glen Road.

Any construction would require a special exception from the county’s Board of Appeals. The next step will be to examine the feasibility of the alternatives discussed and look at whether other alternatives exist, Tobey said at the meeting.

Hospital staff will not be part of the community discussions until Tobey etches out a facility plan that is a compromise of the community’s concerns and the constraints of the site, said Eileen Cahill, vice president of government and community relations at Holy Cross.

‘‘We have every expectation that when the architect goes out to lay out our first drawings, they will reflect the consensus of the community,” Cahill said Tuesday.

Adam Pagnucco, who lives less than three blocks from the hospital, said many of the neighbors seemed in favor of construction on the back end of the site farthest away from the surrounding neighborhoods. Whether that site was large enough to meet the hospital’s demands is yet to be determined.

‘‘A lot of us are waiting for answers to questions of exactly what they want, because that’ll impact what happens on the site,” said Pagnucco, who has been taking part in the discussions. ‘‘We just have to participate, and continue asking questions. ... There’s a history of cooperation there that we’re all drawing on.”

The 425-bed hospital, which completed its last expansion in 2005, went through a similar vetting process with the community after its last major expansion. Cahill said residents have been even more engaged this time in assisting the hospital with a new facility master plan.

‘‘Our goal, like the last time, is that we’ll have a compromise to work with. ... Will there be some tweaking? Sure, there was the last time. But there weren’t any big debates,” Cahill said.

Martin Klauber, people’s counsel for Montgomery County, said Tuesday that while the discussion now focuses mainly on the hospital’s current needs, it was important to look toward the future to determine how the hospital will address a growing strain on its facilities.

The office of the People’s Counsel was created by the County Council to assist residents in discussions regarding land use and zoning issues, and to represent the public’s and the county’s concerns at relevant hearings.

‘‘The hospital needs to say, ‘This is what we’re going to need to build by 2015,’” Klauber said Tuesday.

Cahill said any news coming from Washington Adventist Hospital in regard to its plans to relocate to the White Oak-Calverton neighborhood of Silver Spring would be part of a separate discussion, and the expectations from the community now were to focus primarily on the hospital’s present needs.

Montgomery General Hospital’s recent merger with the MedStar Health network of Columbia, while disappointing, was more an ‘‘opportunity for the hospital, not a necessity,” said Holy Cross spokeswoman Yolanda Gaskins. Montgomery General had been deciding between MedStar and Holy Cross as potential partners. Gaskins said the news would not hinder the hospital’s plans to grow.