Commissioners OK hospital expansion

Scott commissioners approved St. Clair Hospital’s conditional use application and subdivision and site plans for the hospital’s planned $142 million expansion at its main campus on Bower Hill Road, but not without some pushback fromresidents.

The commissioners’ vote to approve the plans was 7-0 Tuesday. David Calabria II and William Wells were absent.

Neighboring Mt. Lebanon commissioners voted late last year to approve the project. About half of the hospital complex is in Mt. Lebanon andhalf in Scott.

Hospital officials announced the expansion plans, which include a 280,000-square-foot outpatient earlier Tuesday.

The center will include 10 operating rooms for outpatient surgery, medical imaging, physical and occupational therapy, an infusion center, a pharmacy as well as other clinical services, plus conferencespace and a café.

The outpatient center is expected to create 150 more positions for health care professionals at the hospital, which currently has 2,500 employees. The hospital plans to break ground later this year on its sixstory outpatient center, which is scheduled to open in the fall of 2020.

Several people spoke against the development, and specifically the relocation of North Wren Drive, which according to a news release from the hospital will be realigned to “better connect with Bower Hill Road and Firwood Drive.”

The realignment also will include the installation of new traffic signals and sidewalks.

A new entrance to the facility will be created at North Wren Drive, while the current main entrance will remain open. Dave Murphy, who lives near North Wren Drive, said the realignment is “completely unnecessary.”

Kathy Murphy added that she and her husband have had close calls with other cars at the intersection, and she is “tired of picking up my stuff off the floor after I slam on my brakes.”

“People coming out of the hospital are not mindful of what they are doing,” Ms. Murphy said.

Residents also were concerned about water runoff from the new facility.

Betsy Lynn Harbin of Scrubgrass Road said her neighborhood is going to be affected by water draining from the new portion of the hospital.

“Our flood insurance is going to go up,” she said. “What are you going to do the next timewe have a flood?”

As part of its application, the hospital has agreed to satisfy stormwater requirements by contributing to improvements to the stormwater system.

The upgrades will begin at the connection of the new St. Clair Hospital project and extend to the outfall of Scrubgrass Run, with a completion goal date of June 30, 2020. The hospital has agreed to contribute 50 percent of all project costs up to $500,000, with a minimum contribution of $400,000.

Township officials said as part of its conditional use application, the hospital agreed to reduce the water runoff coming from the site.

Scott manager Denise Fitzgerald said she did not yet have a total cost of the project, but pointed out the area will be getting a new storm sewer.

Resident Wendy McIntyre spoke in favor of the hospital’s expansion.

“There is support for the project out there,” she said, adding not all of the residents near the hospital are opposed to its expansion.

In other business, the board unanimously approved the township’s school resource officer agreement between Scott and Chartiers Valley School District for an additional two years. Scott police Officer Ed Povirk works in the Chartiers Valley district as its school resource officer.