NCH gets approval for new 87-foot tall heart center at Baker Hospital campus

Naples City Council has approved rezoning NCH’s Baker Hospital campus for a new heart and stroke center at 87 feet in height and a new 30-foot parking garage.

The rezoning of 13.72 acres that encompasses the main block of the hospital campus from “medical” to the city’s “public services” zoning passed 4 to 1 with Vice Mayor Terry Hutchison casting the lone “no” vote.

A companion conditional use application to allow for the five-story heart center at 87 feet and other conditions passed 3 to 2 with Hutchison and Councilwoman Beth Petrunoff dissenting.

A site development plan passed 4 to 1 with Hutchison voting against it.

NCH’s plans for the $200 million heart and stoke center was initiated more than two years ago with extensive back-and-forth with the city on the height because it would not comply with the city’s 42-foot height limit for commercial buildings.  City residents approved the limit by referendum in 2000.

More: Take it higher? City leaders vote 4-1 in favor in first rezoning review for NCH heart center

What ultimately developed was the city council’s approval in 2022 to add “community hospital” as an allowable use in the public services district. All development plans in that zoning are conditional and must be approved by the city council.

That paved the way for the workaround the 42-foot height limit through the rezoning request, with an initial approval from the council Jan. 18 and the second approval Wednesday.

Once that hurdle was over, a conditional use application to allow for the 87-foot building with five floors and a detailed site development plan could be considered.

The Telford building that is directly south of the Baker hospital will be torn down to make way for the new heart complex.

NCH spent months meeting with nearby residents and made design concessions while some residents have focused on protecting the charter height amendment to preserve the charm of the area. They fear other developers will seek similar rezoning to get around the commercial height limit.

More: Planning board votes to support new NCH heart and stroke center in downtown Naples

Councilman Ray Christman recused himself from voting on all three requests because his home is on Sixth Street North. The independent Commission on Ethics and Governmental Integrity determined he has a conflict of interest.

Councilman Mike McCabe stepped down from the council at the end of December due to new financial disclosure requirements.

Council member Paul Perry made all three motions to approve the rezoning along with the conditional use application and site plan. The parking garage was approved at 30 feet will have a stair tower at 38 feet, security rail at 32.9 feet and screening at  36 feet.

After the vote, NCH president and chief executive officer Paul Hiltz said in a statement:

“We are thrilled with today’s vote and would like to thank the Naples City Council for their trust in our vision to bring exceptional heart and stroke care to downtown Naples, where our patients need it most,” he said. “We are grateful to our board of trustees and their unwavering leadership and support. And to our community, we appreciate their engagement in this process and consistent commitment to move this project forward.”

What were some of the issues?

Hutchison’s criticized NCH for submitting revisions to the rezoning resolution on Tuesday which the public did not have the chance to review.

NCH attorney Richard Grant initially described the revision as substantive about what area of the hospital campus was being rezoned and later said that was not the right word to use.

“We should not have received that last minute change,” Hutchison said. “That is not appropriate.”

He suggested the rezoning petition be delayed but he didn’t get support.

City Planner Erica Martin said what Grant submitted was a clarification and Naples City Attorney Ralf Brookes said the revision submitted may not be necessary because the legal description is used for the 13.72 acres being rezoned.

Of two signs on the heart center building, which recognize a major donor to the project, Hutchison said one of them is not necessary. He suggested the lower sign on the building is all that is needed.

He also took issue with NCH’s parking garage plan that will abut Sixth Street North when many parking spaces at the hospital’s current parking garage sit empty.

The new garage has been a thorn for Sixth Street North property owners until NCH added extensive landscaping buffering, agreed to keep a row of mature trees, and agreed to a height of 30 feet although it originally wanted the garage at 40 feet.

“Managing parking is the key concept, use spaces already available on your property,” Hutchison said.

What about the parking garage?

The new parking garage took up much of the four-hour meeting with NCH consultants explaining how they have revised the plans from 40 feet to 30 feet.

The reduced height was recommended by the city’s Planning Advisory Board Dec. 13. The garage will have 375 spaces with four floors, with the top deck open air.

The ground floor of the garage will be recessed 8 inches yet some components will have to exceed 30 feet, according to NCH consultants.

A stair tower on the north corner, furthest away from the residential area, will be 38 feet in height. In addition, a safety rail is required will add 2.9 feet and screening will add 6 feet.

In terms of traffic flow, NCH’s consultant said 2,041 more trips will be added daily with peak hour traffic at 163 two-way trips every day

Roughly 60% of the traffic will come from U.S. 41 North and use Fourth Avenue North to get to the campus and 40% will be coming from U.S. 41 South and use Second Avenue North.

Petrunoff asked what volume of patients come from the county and was told 58% of patients needing urgent heart or stroke care live within four miles and 72% live within nine miles, according to NCH’s chief operations officer Jonathan Kling.

Paul Hiltz, the CEO, said some of the traffic that comes to NCH now will be reduced because of plans to move all orthopedic services to a new building near NCH North Naples that is a joint project with Hospital for Special Surgery based in New York

Secondly NCH North Naples provides treatment for some heart attack patients and that will reduce some traffic coming downtown.

Hutchison asked for a breakdown between personal cars and commercial vehicles that will be coming to the campus.

“There should be no change to commercial vehicles,” Kling said, adding that NCH is not adding another loading dock and restricts commercial vehicles to using Fourth Avenue North.

Councilman Ted Blankenship raised a concern he initiated at the Jan. 18 meeting about vehicle clearance at the new garage.

The first floor with 53 spaces will have clearance of 8 feet, 2 inches but the second and third floors with 108 spaces each will have 7-foot clearance. The top floor with 106 spaces is open air.

“I just foresee a parking problem coming if we don’t address it,” Blankenship said.

Mayor Teresa Heitmann said she wanted to ensure that landscaping that is planned along Sixth Street North cannot be changed by the city’s Design Review Board.

She also wanted assurance NCH will not come back at some time and ask to build on the surface parking lot.

“I just want that clear,” Heitmann said. “I want that in the resolution as a condition.”

She asked about the water condition of the lake on the hospital campus and wanted a condition added that NCH would annually test the water quality and not let it degrade.

Heitmann asked if NCH plans to pursue medical tourism, to which Hiltz, the CEO, said that is not part of the organization’s strategy.

Petrunoff agreed with Hutchison that the top floor of NCH’s current parking garage seems to have a lot of empty spaces and asked if NCH had explored all options.

Kling said NCH looked at many alternatives but “they were not enough to meet our parking demand.”

There are times when the public parks on the grass areas around the hospital, Kling said.

Hiltz repeated what he had said at the onset of the hearing that if the parking garage is not approved, the project dies.

“Our board would not be prepared to go forward without the garage,” he said.

What did the public say?

A half a dozen residents addressed the council, with three raising concerns about the charter height, the parking garage or violating the city’s comprehensive land use plan.

A supporter was Dr. Everett Alsbrook, a retired critical care physician who has lived in Naples 40 years.

He said he has come and gone from NCH at all times of the day or night, off season and during peak season and during hurricanes.

“Traffic is not that much of a problem,” he said, adding that he lived in the neighborhood for 30 years. “This is something I think needs to be done. Please go along with what they want to do.”

Greg Myers, who lives on Gulf Shore Boulevard, said the hospital is a medical use, and that’s not changing.

“You can call it an ice cream sundae, it is still the same use,” Myers said. “It is a workaround (the charter height).”

Seventh Street North runs through the NCH campus and there is no indication the street has been vacated.

“You can’t build across a public street,” Myers said, adding that the city needs to do a major subdivision.

Myers added that conditional uses are not permissible if they are not allowed in the city’s comprehensive plan.

Michael Wynn, president of Sunshine Ace Hardware and a member of the NCH board of trustees, urged the council to approve the project.

“The project has overwhelming support of the community,” he said, adding that it would have a profound positive impact on the community.

This article originally appeared on Naples Daily News: Naples council votes 4 to 1 on rezoning to get around height limit