County planners expect to see new hospital plans May 12

VALPARAISO | With last-minute scrambling under way Friday, County Plan Commission Director Bob Thompson said it appears Porter hospital officials will make a Monday deadline to place their new hospital project on the agenda for the May 12 Plan Commission meeting.

The commission will consider granting development plan approval, which is all that remains in the way of the hospital obtaining a building permit to break ground on the new five-story, 430,000-square-foot hospital at the northwest corner of Ind. 49 and U.S. 6.

Among the final requirements for the application that were coming together Friday was a permit from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to allow the hospital to fill in and reroute a 300-foot section of a stream on the site, said Paul Leffler, project manager of the corps' Chicago District.

Leffler said he was prepared to grant a provisional version of the permit Friday. The hospital will be required to conduct a study this summer showing the changes to the stream will not directly impact the federally protected Indiana Bat, which could be living in the affected area, he said.

The hospital already has obtained a required Clean Water Act permit from the Indiana Department of Environmental Management, Leffler said.

Thompson said he received word late Friday morning that the county's independent engineering firm - DLZ - had signed off on a drainage study of the site that is needed before the project can be presented to the Plan Commission. The drainage plans were bounced back to the hospital twice for changes before approval was granted, he said.

This leaves just a few wording changes to be made on the plans before the application is complete, which left Thompson confident the hospital will make it on the May 12 agenda. A backup plans calls for hosting a special meeting May 26.

Thompson said he is planning for a lengthy discussion on the project by the Plan Commission and could not say if a decision will be made during that first meeting. Sometimes the Plan Commissioners request more information and table a final decision.

Porter hospital CEO Jonathan Nalli said in October ground would be broke on the new hospital in April or May.

Hospital officials were reportedly unavailable Friday for comment.

Porter County Council member Rita Stevenson, who faces a primary election challenge Tuesday from fellow Democrat Jeremy Rivas, has said part of the reason she supported granting $12.4 million in tax breaks for the new hospital was to speed up the project. Rivas and others have questioned why the abatement was granted considering Porter already was required to build the hospital as part of its purchase of the facility from the county in 2007.

The new hospital will have 261 private rooms, replacing the shared rooms at the current, 250,000-square-foot facility in Valparaiso.

The project is predicted to create 600 temporary construction jobs and the new hospital will staff 1,626 full-time positions within two years of opening, up from the current 1,500, Nalli has said.

The new 103-acre site also will feature an 80,000- to 100,000-square-foot medical office building and will be accessed by a boulevard-style entrance off U.S. 6.