MVC Approves Hospital Plan

Commission Vote Is Unanimous Despite Stubborn Reservations Over
Location of Building; Offsite Parking Is Out

By IAN FEIN

The Martha's Vineyard Commission last night unanimously
approved the $42 million renovation and expansion of the Martha's
Vineyard Hospital despite widespread misgivings with the existing
location.

During more than four hours of debate, a number of commission
members aired their concerns about the present hospital site, which they
described as too small, at risk for natural hazards and located within a
historic residential neighborhood in the Eastville section of Oak
Bluffs. But in the end they all agreed that those factors were eclipsed
by the pressing need for an improved emergency medical facility on the
Island.

"The location is not ideal," said Dr. Martin Crane, a
mainland physician and the governor's appointee to the commission,
who as a state official has visited more than 70 hospitals across the
commonwealth. "But the benefits of improved health care for the
people on the Island, and the consequence to an improved quality of life
here, are indisputable, very clear and compelling, and far outweigh and
override any of the detriments that I have seen in this project."

The commission over the course of multiple meetings this month
reviewed the hospital expansion proposal as a development of regional
impact (DRI).

The decision last night represents a significant victory for the
Vineyard hospital, and comes at a time of sweeping changes in Island
health care. Hospital trustees will soon replace their ailing 1972
complex with a state-of-the-art facility, and this month plan to sign an
affiliation agreement with Massachusetts General Hospital, one of the
top medical centers in the nation. The two landmark measures come only a
decade after a financial crisis forced the Vineyard hospital into
bankruptcy.

The unanimous 16-0 commission vote, however, did not prevent some
members last night from venting their frustration with hospital
officials, who they criticized for not pursuing an alternative location
for the expansion project.

Commission member John Best called the hospital proposal a failure
of long-term planning, and the commission in its deliberations did not
accept the accuracy of hospital statements that moving to another site
on the Island would make the project prohibitively expensive. Commission
member Andrew Woodruff suggested that history may prove the existing
location to be more costly in the years to come.

Though an independent consultant found an overall low risk from
natural hazards at the Eastville site, more than one commission member
said last night that the risk analysis may have underestimated the
impact from sea level rise. Commission chairman Linda Sibley said she
expects that the hospital site, which is bounded on three sides by
water, will become a dangerous location.

"I will forever be deeply disappointed that the hospital and
the community didn't somehow manage to get together and move this
to a better location," Mrs. Sibley said last night. "On the
other hand, as a commission we weigh benefits and detriments. And the
benefits are usually all for the developer, while the community gets
stuck with the detriments. But this is a project where the benefits
accrue to the community - and they are huge benefits - and
from that point of view it's the best thing I've
seen."

More than a half-dozen hospital officials and employees attended the
commission deliberations last night. And though they were largely
pleased with the decision, the conditional approval will require them to
return to the commission with a series of more detailed plans related to
architecture, parking, waste, stormwater, erosion and landscaping, among
other things. To satisfy concerns from neighbors, hospital officials
must also now submit a construction management plan to the Oak Bluffs
board of selectmen.

The most significant outstanding issue is the parking situation, as
both hospital and commission officials acknowledge that the 260 spaces
presently on the site do not meet current needs. The parking shortfall
reflects larger concerns that the 13-acre hospital site was neither
appropriate nor adequate for further expansion.

Hospital officials this week pulled from their proposal an offsite
employee parking lot across Eastville avenue that emerged as a sticking
point for the project. The commission had planned to delay its vote on
the overall expansion by at least a week to take additional testimony on
the parking lot, but in the end hospital officials deferred
consideration of the offsite parking because the Massachusetts
Department of Mental Health, which owns the property, had not yet agreed
to the plan.

The commission last night demanded that hospital officials return at
a later time with specific plans to accommodate another 70 parking
spaces. Commission members originally planned to require their approval
of that plan before the hospital could obtain a building permit. But
because they wanted to give hospital officials more time to develop
alternative solutions and did not want to hold up the start of the
project, commission members agreed to put off the parking approval
deadline until the certificate of occupancy at the end of construction.

Hospital officials are hoping to break ground in March, with
construction expected to last roughly two and a half years, though the
project still needs permits from a variety of Oak Bluffs town boards.

The commission decision is also subject to appeal by two groups of
abutters that earned legal standing to challenge the regional planning
agency. Windemere Road resident Patrick King, a member of one of the
groups, attended the meeting last night and said he would meet with his
neighbors before deciding whether to appeal.

Commission members also discussed the prominent visibility of the
three-story, 90,000-square-foot addition that will be built on an
elevated site in front of the original 1929 hospital building, but could
not reach a consensus on whether that actually constituted a detriment
for the project. Some felt that a large hospital building may serve as a
welcoming symbol for Island visitors entering through the harbor.

Commission member Mimi Davisson warned that Vineyard residents
should expect to see a dramatic change on the site and skyline.
"This will create a very imposing structure, and we all need to be
ready for it, because I think we might be shocked when construction
starts," she said.

Voting in favor of the project were James Athearn, John Best, John
Breckenridge, Christina Brown, Dr. Martin Crane, Mimi Davisson, Mark
Morris, Christopher Murphy, Katherine Newman, Nathaniel Orleans, Megan
Otten-Sargent, James Powell, Douglas Sederholm, Linda Sibley, Paul
Strauss and Andrew Woodruff. There were no abstentions or dissents.

Following the vote, hospital board vice chairman Timothy Sweet said
he was greatly relieved and pleased to have cleared such a major hurdle
in the expansion plans.

"I hope everyone ends up as proud of this project as we
are," Mr. Sweet said, "reservations aside."