Edmond OKs new emergency care center plan
After multiple attempts to place an emergency care center in Edmond, Mercy Hospital now has its way and soon will begin construction on a 54,000-square-foot building.
The Edmond City Council approved the change in zoning at Monday’s meeting with no objection from the council or public. Several neighbors expressed appreciation for the new plan.
“I am looking forward to having Mercy as a neighbor,” said Steve Schenk, who lives in the neighborhood east of the proposed building.
The emergency department and primary care clinic will be south of the current wellness center, south of 15th Street and on the west side of Interstate 35.
The difference between the current plan and former plan is the room set aside as a buffer zone. The zone will span the entire west side of the property and be between 40 and 90 feet wide.
“We did go back to the drawing board,” said Ryan Bader, director of planning, design and construction for Mercy.
The buffer area will use the existing trees, and more will be planted to provide year-round coverage.
To reduce sound even more, Mercy will restrict deliveries and trash pickup to between 7:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. Ambulances also will turn off their sirens once entering the property.
A 10-foot sidewalk also will be built in front of the building to extend the Edmond trail system.
“This is an entirely different Mercy health project for this area,” said Andy Lester, an attorney that has been representing Mercy.
“Mercy has been listening to Edmond, and we are ready to expand our services,” he said.
The two-story building will cost about $30 million. The bottom floor will be buried in the topography of the land, according to planning documents. The lower level will offer full-service emergency care with 24-hours-a-day access.
No helipad will be built.
Possible housing development
The council approved 4 to 1 to rezone two properties near Cooke Trail from agriculture to lake residential, which could lead to more housing additions being built if approved at a later date.
The only council member to vote no was Nick Massey.
Several neighbors voiced concern about the change, citing that nobody at the meeting knew who has ownership of Cooke Trail. The road is a halfmile east of Air Depot Boulevard on Second Street.
“Housing developments are coming and we need to do it correctly,” said Brandon Nichols, a resident of the area. “We really do not know what we are going to get with this change.”
City Attorney Steve Murdock said the road is not the city’s and that it is not responsible for maintaining the road. The road would have to be used if the owners wished to get to their property.
Concerns by neighbors also included flooding issues, which Woody Loden, a resident on Cooke Trail, said is a common occurrence on his property.
“It will flood,” Loden said. “If you just put a retention pond out there, it will be like throwing a teacup out there to collect water.”