Land rezoning, Ind. 49 hospital plan advances in Valparaiso

The City Council plans to have a special meeting to approve a new medical, office and technology district and to rezone the property, south of Burlington Beach Road, that the county hospital plans to build on.

Memorial Health System out of South Bend, the hospital's new owners, have a due diligence period that ends mid-August, before the only council meeting next month, on Aug. 27.

Mayor Jon Costas expects the council will approve the building plan proposed by the hospital as well as the rezoning of the land.

"There seems to be a general consensus that it'll pass," Costas said, adding that the public hearing was held at the plan commission so no other public hearings are needed.

Council member John Bowker, who opposed the hospital's first site on the west side of I-49, said he approved of this plan.

In the old plan, the NIPSCO power lines along 49 would have required helicopters to fly west over residences, he said.

The modified plan puts the power lines west of the proposed hospital, causing helicopters to fly east and north, following the airport's flight patterns, hospital attorney Todd Etzler said.

Residents of St. James Subdivision, which in being planned for the east side of the hospital's proposed campus, would be aware of the hospital and helicopter landing pads before buying, Bowker said.

Council member Ed Howe said he lives near the current hospital, and the helicopter sounds do not bother him.

The hospital plan proposes a building with 100 beds and five-to-six medical buildings around it, Etzler said. A road will run parallel to I-49 and connect Burlington Beach to County Road 400 to the south.

Memorial officials would like to start construction in spring and finish in 24 months, employing 600 to 700 people, Senior Vice President Theodore Foti said.

Memorial also will build the medical buildings with a building expansion to a 250-bed facility within four-to-five years, based on population estimates, Foti said.

Although the rezoned land allows for certain retail and eating establishments in conjunction with the medical facilities, if the hospital campus does not get built, high-intensity commercial businesses cannot build on the land, Etzler said.