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New Site Selected To Build Hospital

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By NICOLA M. WHITE, The Tampa Tribune

Published: October 25, 2007

WESLEY CHAPEL - When local protests stymied plans to build Wesley Chapel's first hospital in a mostly residential area off traffic-clogged State Road 54, hospital officials said they would go back to the drawing board.

Wednesday afternoon, they announced new plans, which call for building a hospital just north of State Road 56 and east of Bruce B. Downs Boulevard in the Wiregrass Ranch development.

'To be quite frank, the county didn't approve the other site, so we wanted to be good corporate citizens,' said Samantha O'Lenick, spokeswoman for the health care team of Adventist Health System and University Community Hospital.

In July, county officials said they thought growing Wesley Chapel needed a hospital, but they didn't agree with the original site, just east of Interstate 75 and across from Saddlebrook Resort. Neighbors also complained their quality of life would be disrupted by a '24-hour neighbor.'
Pasco County commissioners, sitting as the Local Planning Agency, unanimously voted against a land-use change that would have allowed a hospital to be built there.

They urged the health care team to seek a better location.

Adventist, a faith-based hospital system that runs Florida Hospital Zephyrhills, the closest hospital to Wesley Chapel, owns 51 acres in Wiregrass, so hospital officials decided to shift plans to that site, O'Lenick said.

Because the site would not require a land-use change from the county, the hospital team could face fewer headaches, said David Goldstein, senior assistant county attorney. Plans for Wiregrass include a hospital.

'There wouldn't be nearly the obstacles they faced on State Road 54,' he said. 'Plus, I think the roadway access is maybe a little better there, too.'

Adventist proposed building a hospital on the Wiregrass property last year but was denied permission by the state.

This year, Adventist tried again, this time teaming with former rival UCH to beef up its application. The state Agency for Healthcare Administration in June granted the team a certificate of need, giving it permission to build an 80-bed acute care facility.

Adventist and UCH beat out BayCare Health System, which wanted to build a 1,300-bed hospital on the west side of Bruce B. Downs Boulevard in the Seven Oaks development.

All is not clear for the Adventist and UCH, though. They still face opposition from BayCare and Community Hospital of New Port Richey, both of which have filed objections with the state. A hearing is set for March 31.

Assuming UCH and Adventist prevail at the hearing, the hospital could take three years to build, O'Lenick said.

Reporter Nicola M. White can be reached at (813) 779-4613 or nwhite1@tampatrib.com.

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