Council OKs Hoag Expansion Project : Medical care: The 6-1 vote will allow the hospital to begin work on its $5-million plan to enlarge the emergency room.

The City Council on Monday overwhelmingly approved plans to double the size of Hoag Hospital’s emergency room, rejecting pleas from neighbors and siding with residents who said that more emergency care was desperately needed.

“I did pay a visit to the emergency room and I did it tonight on a Monday night, and it was full,” said Councilman John W. Hedges. “And it showed me in graphic and stark terms that the emergency room needs to be expanded.”

Following a public hearing at which neighbors opposed to the expansion said it would eliminate their views and come within 75 feet of homes, the council voted 6 to 1 to allow the expansion, with Councilwoman Jean Watt dissenting.

“I can’t really (imagine) that there’s no other alternative to this that would have less impact to the people living next door,” Watt said.

The vote allows work to begin on the $5-million, two-story addition which will include a new loading dock and staff offices, lounges and lockers totaling 13,700 square feet.

“Hoag Hospital is a lifeline to Newport Beach, Costa Mesa and the outlying areas,” resident Nora Jorgensen told the City Council. “Because of Hoag Hospital and the emergency room, (my husband) was able to live 13 years longer than he would have. “

But other residents argued to the council that the expanded Emergency Care Unit, as proposed, would create a cavelike environment for them.

“I and all the other people on the first floor on that side would have their views obliterated,” said Rosemary C. Steinbrecher, who lives in the Versailles condominium complex next to the hospital. “We see all the way to Saddleback Mountain. All the city, all the lights and all the human interest would be obliterated by this high rise.”

Hospital officials have worked to keep the expansion separate from the hospital’s upcoming master-plan review, saying the larger emergency unit was greatly needed and could not wait for that lengthy review process.

The master plan is a skeleton for future development, most of which is slated for land the hospital owns next to the Cancer Center on West Coast Highway. The master plan will go before the city Planning Commission next month.

Hospital officials added that the improvements are needed to handle the increased number of visitors. The current structure, built in 1974, was intended to serve a maximum of 18,000 patients annually. Last year, 38,000 patients were served.

Jorgensen, whose granddaughter has asthma and often needs emergency care at the hospital, told the council: “If the Hoag Hospital emergency room was enlarged and the staff was enlarged, my little grandchild would not have to wait. All of the children would not have to wait.”

However, many residents in Villa Balboa and Versailles condominium complexes suggested that the hospital expand on the other side of its property near the Newport Boulevard entrance where traffic would not affect residents.

Hoag officials hope to begin construction in September, 1992.