Concerns raised about removing childcare facility, residential space at Snowden, parking, and hospital’s poor LeapFrog rating.
The entirety of the Mary Washington Healthcare campus in Fredericksburg needs to be devoted to medical use, Eric Fletcher told City Council Tuesday evening.
“Our perspective is, this needs to be a medical campus,” Fletcher, the hospital system’s senior vice president and chief strategy officer, said during a work session.
He was responding to a question from Councilor Jason Graham about why a childcare facility is not identified in the general development plan for expansion of the hospital campus that will be considered by Council next month.
The Planning Commission earlier this month voted to recommend approval of the hospital system’s rezoning application, which seeks to amend the existing general development plan, removing one building and adding two new buildings.
City Council will take a preliminary vote on whether to approve the application on June 11.
The proposed plans call for the demolition of the existing childcare facility, Kids’ Station operated by KinderCare, and the construction of a new two-story medical clinic in its place, along with the construction of a three-story conference center and a 6,000-square-foot expansion of Snowden House.
Graham asked Fletcher why MWHC isn’t proposing to build a three-story medical clinic and keep the childcare facility on one of the floors.
Fletcher responded by saying again that buildings on the hospital campus are needed for clinical use. He also said that MWHC is not trying to remove the daycare use and is “trying to give KinderCare time” to find a new location for the daycare.
“They are moving along” with that effort, Fletcher said.
Council members, for the most part, said they are supportive of MWHC’s mission and its plans to establish and grow a graduate medical education program in order to increase the supply of doctors in the region.
They had questions and concerns, however, about the development plan and proffers as currently proposed.
Councilor Will Mackintosh asked why, if there is such a need for medical space, the proposed use for the expanded Snowden House is “dwelling, single-family detached,” according to a memo prepared by staff for the Planning Commission’s May 8 meeting.
He asked whether there is a more appropriate zoning category for short-term residential use, such as for visiting doctors or residents, which is what Fletcher said the plans for Snowden House are.
Zoning administrator Kelly Machen said there is an opportunity for the hospital to clearly state the proposed use of Snowden House in the proffers.
Mackintosh also said he’d like to see the plans de-emphasize parking lots, especially in front of the proposed new medical clinic.
He said that not all of the patients the hospital serve arrive by car—some use public transportation, and the design of the new facility should “be more built around the kinds of people you will serve.”
Mayor Kerry Devine pressed Fletcher on the hospital’s recent D safety rating from Leapfrog.
“I’m concerned that you are asking about expansion at this time,” she said. “I’d like to see something [put in place] to improve that rating.”
Fletcher said the hospital does not have problems with the quality of its clinical care, but with its “documentation.”
He said there are “many other ratings,” though he did not name them, and “the ledger’s in our favor in terms of quality.”
There will be a public hearing on the hospital’s expansion plans on June 11, before Council votes on a first read of the requested rezoning.
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