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HomeMy WebLinkAboutARCH-0161-2019 Project DescriptionFrench Hospital Medical Center Dignity Health Proposed Patient Tower, Chapel and Parking Structure Prepared by Studio Design Group Architects Inc. April 27, 2020 PROJECT INTRODUCTION In 1993, the City approved a Master Plan for the French Hospital campus that anticipated the ultimate build-out of the site with needed facilities for a range of different services. The plan included four new buildings, an addition to the hospital, and a substantial expansion of site parking. The 1993 City approval included a mitigated negative declaration (MND) that addressed significant environmental impacts associated with the proposed project. On March 15, 2013, Administrative Use Permit A 140-11 was approved amending the original 1993 Master Plan. Although the configuration and placement of proposed buildings were modified in the 2013 Master Plan amendment the gross area and potential impacts considered by the 1993 Master Plan remained substantially unchanged. The City requested an update to the original 1993 traffic study, which concluded the original 1993 traffic report was still relevant and the proposed changes to the master plan would not adversely affect the baseline intersection operations or level of service on Johnson Avenue. The revised master plan was approved by the City in 2013. In 2016, the master plan was revised and approved by the City once again to accommodate a new four-story Medical Office Building and parking garage. Similar to the master plan amendment three years earlier, building areas approved in the 2013 Master Plan amendment were reallocated to new the buildings shown on the 2016 Master Plan. No increase in the gross area approved for the campus by the 1993 Master Plan was proposed. Rather, the total building area approved for the campus in the original 1993 Master Plan was once again reallocated in the 2016 Master Plan so as to comply with the original 1993 MND. For the last sixteen years Dignity Health has continually upgraded and improved all patient care departments inside the original 1971 hospital building. After several years of detailed study, planning and projection of community healthcare needs over the next 50 years Dignity Health has determined that all of the previously approved building allocations spread across several future buildings should be consolidated into a single 89,775 SF, 4-story, 82 bed Patient Tower Expansion. This current Master Plan proposal also includes a new 1,000 SF Chapel to be constructed within the existing Entry Portico (under separate ARC submittal) and a new parking deck with a helistop. The helistop will serve the Emergency Department expansion project currently under construction as well as the proposed Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU). PROJECT INFORMATION Hospital Patient Tower Expansion Area: 89,775 SF Additional Beds: 82 Stories: Four Height above average natural grade: 68 feet Occupancy: I-2 French Hospital Medical Center Dignity Health Proposed Patient Tower, Chapel and Parking Structure 2 Generator/Oxygen Yard Area: 1,800 SF Occupancy: U Parking Deck Parking Deck Area: 31,000 SF (over surface level parking and 5,800 SF shell space for future Laboratory & Storage) Number of Parking Spaces: 82 on deck level Helistop Area: 2,000 SF Stories: 2 (including helistop) Height above average natural grade: 19 feet (with 10’ elevator tower projection) Occupancy: S-2/B Parking Statistics Existing number of on-site parking spaces: 709 Number of on-site spaces at completion Patient Tower & Parking Deck: +/-677 Number of spaces at off-site Church parking lot: 95 (+/-10), final number to be determined. SITE INFORMATION & SETTING The overall hospital campus property is about 18 acres in size and extends generally from Johnson Avenue to the railroad tracks. The developed part of the hospital property is fairly flat, but there is a steep slope bank between Johnson Avenue and the front parking lot, and another steep slope bank between rear parking areas and the undeveloped property owned by the hospital to the west. The overall campus site development presently includes the one- story French Hospital building, the three story Copeland Health Education Building, the three-story Pacific Medical Plaza to the south of the hospital (separate ownership), and the Ella Street medical condominiums (separate ownership) further to the south. A 1,800 square- foot modular building that serves as a business office is located on the north side of the hospital. Surface parking lots surround the buildings on the perimeter of the campus. Surrounding land uses include vacant land to the west, and residential uses to the north, south and east. A summary of all buildings (existing and proposed) is shown on Sheet R-102 of plans The campus several underlying legal parcels, some of which are under separate ownership. In conjunction with this application Dignity Health is planning to merge their parcels 2, 3 and 4 with a portion of Parcel 6 (under separate ownership) as required to construct the proposed Patient Tower and Parking Structure. Refer to sheet A002 of the Schematic Plan documents for location of property lines to be extinguished. The main hospital access is at the traffic signal at Johnson Avenue and Lizzie Street. There is also a traffic signal at Johnson Avenue and Ella Street providing access to the site from Ella Street. PROJECT DESCRIPTION The proposed Tower Expansion and Parking Deck buildings are described on Sheet R-101 as Building G and Building H respectively. Specific information for each building is shown in the French Hospital Medical Center Dignity Health Proposed Patient Tower, Chapel and Parking Structure 3 Project Information section above. The footprint of each building is currently paved and used for surface parking. Tower Expansion Building The proposed Tower building has been designed to coordinate with the surrounding existing buildings. The main stucco building color (Lanyard) and slate gray horizontal rib accent panels are borrowed from the adjacent Pavilion Building. The new Main Entry façade has deep recessed and broad overhangs with large areas of glazing to take advantage of the views of downtown and Cerro San Luis Mountain beyond. Aluminum shading devices similar to those used on the Pavilion Building are included in the glazing system surrounding the main entry. A large, covered terrace on the second level provides visitors and patients with access to fresh air, sunshine and views. Recessed stucco control joints relieve large wall surfaces and three- dimensional aluminum window surrounds at the patient rooms. Roof mounted HVAC equipment is screened from view with horizontal metal panels similar to the panels used on the adjacent Pavilion Building. Parking Deck The proposed single level Parking Deck over surface level parking maintains strong horizontal lines typical of parking structures. The bottom level shell space (future Lab & Storage) sits below the parking deck and includes a pedestrian plaza. The cast-in-place concrete structure will be painted with exterior colors to match those of the Pavilion Building and proposed Tower building. The parking structures at Sierra Vista Regional Medical Center and at Mindbody on Tank Farm Road are examples of the exterior finishes proposed. BUILDING HEIGHT The four-story Patient Tower building height is proposed to be 68 feet above average natural grade. Stair/Elevator penthouses and mechanical screening extend an additional 10 feet as allowed by the Zoning Regulations. The previous master plan approval included a variance of up to 62 feet high for a new medical office building (where the current parking structure is proposed to be located) that was never constructed. The proposed Tower is sited at the rear of the site and substantially set back from adjacent streets. Although the proposed Patient Tower is the same height as the previously approved medical office building it will be constructed on the lower portion of the site to the west of the hospital. Accordingly the top parapet of the proposed Patient Tower (353.75’) will actually be less than the height of the existing Pacific Medical Plaza building (354.80’). The proposed Parking Deck will be 19 feet above average natural grade (to the top of the guardrail on the highest level and the helistop). The elevator penthouse extends an additional 10’ feet as allowed by the Zoning Regulations. This is below the allowable maximum height of 35’. Given past precedent, the placement and the design of the proposed Tower and Parking Deck buildings, Dignity Health is requesting the previously granted variance of 68 feet be re-affirmed for the present project. TRAFFIC/FLOW Presently an estimated 80-90% of all traffic enters the site at a signaled intersection at Johnson Avenue. Driveway widening to ease traffic flow from the Johnson Ave entrance through the site to the proposed Tower entry is included as part of this project. Two secondary traffic entries are via Ella Street and access the rear of the property. A fourth vehicular access (from Breck Street) French Hospital Medical Center Dignity Health Proposed Patient Tower, Chapel and Parking Structure 4 was constructed with the recently completed parking lot expansion north of the Pavilion Building. The reallocation of use from medical offices (previously approved Master Plan) to hospital use (current Master Plan) results in a slightly decreased overall traffic impact. This is due to the higher trips and turnover associated with medical offices when compared with trips and turnover typical for hospital patients, visitors and staff. An updated traffic report (July 15,2019) is included with the current application concludes the proposed project “would result in fewer trips being generated than the 1993 Master Plan and would not significantly impact the existing roadway conditions.” An easement for a public bike path was granted to the City in conjunction with the 2012 Master Plan update. The proposed plan includes a slight modification to the existing bike path and Open Space Easement. PARKING All parking is presently surface parking and includes spaces for approximately 709 cars, well in excess of City requirements for the current uses. A reciprocal parking and drive agreement with the two neighboring medical office building parcels (Parcels 5 & 6) allow shared parking and drive areas between all three ownerships for all areas of the combined campus. The majority of existing site parking is provided at the rear of the hospital site. The proposed Tower (and future Lab space on the lower level of the proposed Parking Structure) will require a total of 96 additional spaces. To offset the loss of 85 parking spaces due to the placement of the proposed Tower and 13 spaces due to the entry drive modifications, Dignity proposes a new Parking Deck located over the existing parking lot located at the rear of the site. The completed Parking Deck will provide an additional 66 parking spaces for a total of 677 spaces on the campus, still in excess of the City requirements for the proposed uses. Sheet R-102 of plans provides a complete parking summary that includes the requirements for all existing and proposed buildings. The summary specifies the existing number of space and the number of spaces proposed to be removed/added as well as the number of spaces available at the conclusion of both Phase I and Phase II. In addition to the parking available on campus Dignity Health has leased an area that will provide approximately 95 parking spaces nearby at the ‘Renovate’ First Baptist Church at 2075 Johnson Street. These spaces are for employees and construction personnel and are available 6:00 AM to 8:00 PM Mon, Tues, Thurs and Fri and from 6:00 AM to 5:00 PM on Wed. HELISTOP As noted in the introduction above this Master Plan proposal includes a new helistop over parking to serve the existing Emergency Department and the proposed Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU). Based on San Luis Obispo County Emergency Medical Services records the anticipated flight frequency is three helicopter trips per month. A preliminary Noise Analysis Study is included in the attached planning application. French Hospital Medical Center Dignity Health Proposed Patient Tower, Chapel and Parking Structure 5 PUBLIC ART French Hospital Medical Center strongly supports the cultural and wellbeing values that art can add to our environment. The existing hospital includes art in the interior public spaces as well as sculptures by local artists in the existing Healing Garden. The Hospital proposes to continue their commitment to art as a healing element in collaboration with the City’s Public Art Proposal program. Potential areas for new Public Art include the main entry plaza of the proposed Patient Tower, an interior garden court adjacent to the new cafeteria and a second floor exterior terrace above the main entry. Once the hospital has engaged an artist(s) a separate application will be submitted for review and approval of the proposed Public art in these areas. PROJECT SCHEDULE The Parking Deck (Phase I) will break ground in February 2021. The Tower construction (Phase II) will start approximately four months later. There will be a period of approximately six months where both the Parking Deck and the Tower will be under construction. The following exhibits illustrate the proposed phasing, schedule and available parking throughout the project. Total Campus & Off-Site Parking Summary Approx. Date Net Add/Loss Cumulative 2020 -709 Feb. 2021 95 804 Parking Deck New Medical Tower After start Feb. 2021 -216 588 After start Aug. 2020 -119 469 At completion Feb. 2021 242 711 At completion Oct. 2022 61 772 Current At start of construction Notes: Structure footprint plus adjacent laydown bay Regain laydown area back 243 spaces in structure + 63 in adjacent surface parking bay & regained laydown area (plus 20 motorcycle spots) Tower + laydown area (plus 6 motorcycle spots) Addition of spaces due to First Baptist Church parking agreement French Hospital Medical Center Dignity Health Proposed Patient Tower, Chapel and Parking Structure 6 CONCLUSION The completion of the proposed Patient Tower, Chapel and Parking Structure will ensure that state-of-the-art patient care is provided for the health of the entire community. The investment by Dignity Health in this project demonstrates the strength of their commitment to a shared vision for a healthy future for San Luis Obispo.