Hospital Renovations Raise Parking Concerns for West Side Residents

Hospital neighbors got a sneak peek of 's new building plan, which will retrofit the facility to 2030 seismic standards and add a roughly 16,000 square foot wing, in a community meeting Tuesday evening.

"How does it look, how does it feel, do you feel as a person that it’s a healing environment -  those are the pragmatics and poetics that the whole design team must discuss," said Andy McPherson, an architect with the Sacramento-based Nact & Lewis Architects.

"A lot of pre-planning has been done to move this along, many many phases, every aspect of this has been vetted reviewed questioned and challenged as our providers can attest," said Hospital Board Member Bill Borham. "But it’s difficult for most people who aren’t getting paid our high salaries – $0 - to follow our agendas and vetting process."

Built with a Tuscan theme in mind the new facility has some Sonoma-style on first glance: grapevines wrapped around trellises flank the entrance, alongside a rustic stone wall which will conceal the hospital's new generator. 

To save operating costs, the central wing of the hospital will be retrofitted to 2030 seismic standards with a new wing - including an updated operating suite and increased patient and sleep room capacity - will improve on the hospital's current antiquated facilities. To increase interior light the architects went with a bold idea - inserting windows, with state-of-the-art sun-shields, into the operating room suites.

Inherent in the new design is a relocation of current parking, which sits where the new building is scheduled to be building, to a new central courtyard.

But the hospital's west side neighbors are concerned that the reduction of parking, though it meets the city's mandated parking minimums, will clog-up the already overused street parking spaces around town.

“What’s going to happen is you’re going to have to push the police department to enforce the two-hours on the neighborhood," said McPherson.

Neighbors weren't pacified. "Parking is already at a minimum here," said one attendee, "and let's just say I've called the cops to come down and deal with things and they're not necessarily that responsive."

Hospital officials said they would discuss procuring an alternate lot, or creating a parking pass system, to make sure that hospital employees do not take up street parking. The city will decide whether Fourth Street East will be zoned for street parking.

“I’m taking notes here,” said Sonoma Mayor Laurie Gallian, who sat quietly in the back of the meeting typing into a smart phone. “Just know that I’m hearing this.”

Architects anticipate the project will be completed by March of 2013, with the loading dock and MRI relocation finished by December of 2011 and the Central Wing updates completed by September of 2012. Both city and state agencies will have to approve the building plan, which architects estimate will take nine months.

Correction appended: We incorrectly stated that John Hayward, who works for Hayward Otto Construction, described the hospital's overall plan. The quotes should be attributed to Andy McPherson.