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Bronxville Planners are expected to continue examining a proposed addition to Lawrence Hospital Center at the monthly meeting scheduled for Wednesday night.
The issue at hand is a proposed 39,000 square foot addition that will be placed on the northeast portion of the hospital's three-acre site. The $34.4 million dollar project would add seven new jobs to the hospital and would not add any new entrances or exits to the campus.
According to the plans, the three story building will host a radiation therapy center in the basement, and a medical oncology infusion center on the first floor, both treatments for cancer.
"Cancer is a complex disease," said Tim Hughes, the hospital's Vice President for Business Development. "The addition of these services will create an environment that is collaborative for all medical services to be in one place for the patient."
The third floor of the new addition is anticipated to have six brand new state of the art operating rooms. Hughes said these rooms will replace the existing operating rooms, which he called functional. "The current operating rooms were built in the 1950s and work well but are clearly below today's standards, especially when it comes to size, " he said.
Hughes said the hospital began considering the project back in 2002, but it did not really gather momentum until approval was granted from the state in 2008.
The bulk of the $34.4 million price tag, $25.7 million will be financed by a bank, Hughes said. An additional $6.7 million will be covered by the hospital's cash reserves. The final $2 million was raised by contributions, Hughes said.
Attorney Kathy Zalantis, who represents Lawrence Hospital before the town's Planning Board, said that the next step in the process is to present the zoning variances that the project will need. Among other variances, the project exceeds the rule that mandates the floor area does not exceed 1.5 percent of the acreage of the site. Zalantis said that the hospital will ask planners to refer the matter to the Village Zoning Board of Appeals for their recommendation.
Zalantis said village planners received the proposal last November. Because of the size of the project, planners have examined the proposal in pieces, carefully considering all aspects.
Hughes said he is hopeful that planners will sign off on the project and a building permit will be issued by the end of 2011. "We hope to break ground on the project on or about the first of the new year," he said.
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