Planners make routine update to hospital zoning codes

LOWELL — Planning commissioners on Monday voted unanimously to recommend updating the definition of a hospital in city land development code and limiting the zoning districts where hospitals can be built.

The changes are routine administrative matters for long-term planning, said Mayor Chris Moore.

The city does not have a hospital and no organizations are considering building a hospital in Lowell, said Karen Davis, community development director.

Moore and Bethany Henry Rosenbaum, a City Council member, introduced the updated definition to the Planning Commission, Davis said.

Hospitals are defined as institutions providing health services primarily for human in-patient, medical or surgical care for the sick or injured, including related facilities such as laboratories, outpatient departments, training and research facilities, central service facilities, pharmacies and staff offices, according to a staff report.

The proposed definition would add that establishments have an organized medical staff, in-patient beds, and equipment and facilities to provide complete health care, the report states. The list of on-site facilities would be expanded to include accessory clinics and laboratories, abortion clinics, accessory retail uses, emergency heliports and on-site ambulance dispatch facilities.

Commissioner James Walker said the language in the new definition is better.

Davis said she introduced the zoning changes because currently, a hospital could be built in any of the city’s three commercial zoning districts, including downtown areas or next to residential areas. The changes will limit hospitals to the thoroughfare commercial zoning district — frontage road areas, she said.

Keeping hospitals away from the neighborhood residential zoning district and downtown commercial zoning district will reduce the impact on bordering low-density residential zones and protect their integrity, the staff report states.

No community members spoke during the public hearings for either item. The Planning Commission’s recommendations will go before the City Council on Nov. 16.

In other business, commission members voted 6-1 to recommend an amendment to the future land use plan, adopted Sept. 21.

The land, located on the southwest side of Arkansas 264 near the Zion Church sewer lift station, is currently zoned for residential neighborhoods, Davis said. Because of how the land lies, it was not studied during a recent study of the city’s sewer infrastructure, she said.

Landowners and developers in the area are willing to pay for the study and to upgrade the lift station and sewer infrastructure, Davis said. The land could change to the neighborhood commercial and intermediate neighborhood zoning districts, she said.

No one spoke during the public hearing on the amendment.

Commissioners James Walker, Tony Kaczoroski, Chase Henrichs, Darrin Brock, Frank Mocivnik and Michael Phillips voted in favor of recommending the change. Commissioner Brian Clark said he voted against the amendment because he is not comfortable changing the area to a commercial district until the study results are seen.

The item will not go before the City Council until the infrastructure is in place, Davis said.