Garden Grove : City Council Approves $260-Million Hospital

A three-year battle pitting Kaiser Permanente officials against residents ended Monday night when the City Council voted 3 to 1 for a proposed $260-million Kaiser medical center.

The approval, which overrules two previous votes by the Planning Commission, clears the way for construction to begin in March or April on 28.5 acres at Euclid Street and Chapman Avenue.

In addition to a seven-story, 400-bed hospital, about 500,000 square feet of clinical office space, a 50-bed nursing facility and a seven-level parking garage will be built. Construction is scheduled for three phases over 10 years.

Councilman Milton Krieger dissented in the voting. Councilman Walter Donovan was absent.

Residents and city officials had debated the project since January, 1982, when Kaiser announced renewed plans to build the hospital.

Opponents, led by Citizens for a Better Garden Grove, said the estimated 3,000 hospital employees would cause massive traffic problems. The group commissioned a report by a Burbank firm that concluded the hospital would generate 300% more traffic than predicted by Kaiser officials.

Last October, the Planning Commission voted 6 to 1 against the project, citing potential traffic and air pollution problems and the nonprofit hospital’s exemption from city property taxation.

But Kaiser Permanente launched an extensive public relations campaign, taking out full-page ads in three newspapers and urging Garden Grove residents to attend council meetings in a show of support for the project.

In December, the council voted 4 to 1 for the hospital after Kaiser officials agreed to increase road-improvement expenditures to $2.4 million, $800,000 more than had been earmarked.