NEWPORT BEACH : Alternative Offered for Hospital Project

A group of residents who want to alter Hoag Hospital’s development proposal delivered an in-depth slide show outlining their concerns about the project and unveiled a full-scale model of an alternative plan at a Planning Commission meeting this week.

In a presentation lasting just over two hours, members of the group, led by the Villa Balboa Homeowners Assn., detailed an alternative plan that would reduce the density of the future project, which nearby residents fear will overshadow their neighborhood and encroach on valuable open space and wetlands.

The alternative plan was presented on behalf of the residents’ by Ariane Zand, a San Francisco-based architect specializing in hospital facilities. The plan includes shifting about 50% of the planned development from the hospital’s so-called lower campus area to the upper campus, which Zand said is underdeveloped and houses many older buildings that could be razed to make way for updated ones.

Zand further proposed that non-crucial services, such as storage rooms, could be moved across the street to land Hoag occupies on Hospital Road. She also pointed out the benefits of retaining open space and wetlands near the hospital’s facilities to create a peaceful atmosphere for patients.

The presentation was made during one of several planned public hearings on Hoag’s master plan, which maps out an expansion project to be undertaken over 20 years. Hospital officials will be given time to respond to the residents’ concerns and the alternative plan at the next Planning Commission meeting.

Opponents have criticized the hospital’s current plan as too costly and say it does not meet a number of the growing facility’s needs.

Mark Faulconer, a Costa-based designer and developer who lives in the Villa Balboa condominium complex, outlined 10 areas of concern about the project.

His presentation ranged from concerns about building over an earthquake fault and areas where he said a danger of seepage from underground methane and hydrogen sulfide deposits exists. He also expressed aesthetic concerns by showing a slide of a view of the sun setting over the ocean, which he said would be blocked for residents if the hospital expands as proposed.

Faulconer added that much of the residents’ concerns are about the changing atmosphere of their neighborhood. The hospital’s plan, he said, would change the area from a serene neighborhood buffered by bluffs and wetlands to one surrounded by industrial-style buildings.

Commissioners requested that Hoag further investigate the gas leaks on the property and asked residents for further information about their proposal.

The next public hearing on the plan will be on Jan. 23 beginning at 6 p.m.