NEWPORT BEACH : Hoag Expansion Plan to Go Before Panel

Hoag Hospital’s expansion plan is scheduled for discussion and a vote before the Coastal Commission today in San Diego County.

The hospital has developed plans to build medical facilities on cattail-filled wetlands near Coast Highway. The proposal has generated opposition from the planning staff at the Coastal Commission.

The project, which was approved by the city of Newport Beach in May, 1992, anticipates the expansion of Hoag Hospital into a regional medical center within 25 years. Though the plan does not lay out specific building designs and functions, it does outline a proposed building size and density.

The Coastal Commission was to vote on the expansion plans at its January meeting, but when the staff recommended that commissioners vote against it, Hoag officials asked that the matter be postponed until this month.

Hospital officials are hoping the commissioners will approve the project this time around despite the staff’s objections, said Peter Foulke, senior vice president at the hospital.

The Dec. 28 Coastal Commission staff report urged the hospital to do more to offset the wetlands that would be lost. The report questions whether anything should be built on a coastal wetland. Commission officials claim there are four acres of wetlands, while the hospital says it is closer to 1 1/2 acres.

The site, which is known as the lower campus, already contains a cancer center, a child-care center, a parking lot and a stack to burn methane gases. The land also features a 40-foot bluff and a wetland area dominated by cattails.

The Coastal Commission meeting is scheduled to begin at 10 a.m. and will be held at the Marriott Hotel in Mission Valley at 8757 Rio San Diego Drive.