The future location of a proposed free-standing emergency room on Yamato Road, Boca Raton, FL. (Photo: Boca Daily News)
A proposal to build a freestanding emergency department that would have been located on Yamato Road was turned down by the Boca Raton city council recently, following complaints from an adjacent property over parking capacity.
The prospect of a freestanding emergency room in the eastern half of the city was met with approval by residents – as well as the planning and zoning board – however council members turned down the project after hearing complaints over parking by the Boca Raton Innovation Center, which would have been located behind the site along Telecom Drive, off Yamato.
A free-standing emergency room provides the identical services as a traditional emergency room, only without an inpatient hospital attached. Patients may arrive by vehicle, on foot or after being transported by ambulance, and would receive the same level of care associated with a hospital-based emergency department. Florida statutes require free-standing emergency rooms to be affiliated with a licensed hospital operator; in this case, the operator would be HCA, or Hospital Corporation of America. HCA operates 191 hospitals across the country, including JFK Hospital in Atlantis and Northwest Hospital in Margate.
The future location of a proposed free-standing emergency room on Yamato Road, Boca Raton, FL. (Photo: Boca Daily News)
The future location of a proposed free-standing emergency room on Yamato Road, Boca Raton, FL. (Photo: Boca Daily News)
The emergency room was proposed to contain 10,860 square feet of space, all within a single-story building. The owners of the BRIC complex next door complained about a request by the developer to reduce the number of parking spaces on the property from 120 to 82, including a decrease from 63 spaces to 21 spaces for the specific ER section of the lot. Representatives for the emergency room developer, property owner Larry Silver, who owns an adjacent office building, said free-standing ERs rarely have more than a few vehicles parked outside at a given time, and the number of trips produced per day is minimal.
The planning board recommended approval in a 4-1 vote, however the council heard testimony from attorney Bonnie Miskel, representing BRIC, that vehicles would encroach on their property and use the BRIC campus parking areas for use with the emergency facility. The property is zoned for office use, and the developer’s representatives argued that the parking required for the free-standing emergency room is “virtually indistinguishable” from that of an urgent care facility, which has been traditionally treated as an office use within the city zoning code. The code allows “medical offices” in the zone.
The ER developers relied on data from the Institute of Traffic Engineers’ parking generation manual, which holds that 73 parking spaces exceeds the capacity required for such a facility, though the BRIC owners countered that data from free-standing ERs in other locations deviated from the ITE estimates. Though the permissibility of the zoning may have been overcome by legal arguments, the proposed reduction in parking was the primary point of contention that caught the attention of council members. If the free-standing ER were to be reduced in size, parking requirements could be pared down, however HCA was not amenable to a reduction.
“I think a 32 percent reduction in parking is not warranted,” said Councilwoman Fran Nachlas. “We set the policy, we set this policy back in August and we expect staff to follow it. And at the P&Z [planning and zoning] meeting now, which I’ve watched several times, it was stated from staff that as far as the office building goes, from the city’s point of view, it’s still an office building. So if tenants change, we still need to park it for an office.”
Nachlas suggested the parties could negotiate and come to an agreement on parking capacity. While the council reversed the planning board’s decision, few believed the city would not benefit from the addition of a free-standing emergency room. Baptist Health recently opened a free-standing emergency room in unincorporated West Boca, leading some in the room to question whether a physician who spoke in opposition to the proposal may have been biased since he was affiliated with Baptist Health’s emergency department.
“What I can say is that there is a need for something like this,” said Councilwoman Yvette Drucker. “And I hope that HCA knows that there are other areas in our city that you can put a property like this – if you’re not willing to reduce this particular space – where we can welcome you here.”
Mayor Scott Singer said the council does not take lightly the notion of reversing the planning board’s conclusion, but even at that venue, the concerns lingered throughout the hearing.
“Of the four board members who voted yes, three nonetheless expressed concerns about parking and other concerns that we have expressed here today,” Singer said.
