Hospital’s move still under shroud of questions

Uncertainty if a site decision will be made by the next monthly deadline, Dec. 1

By: David Campbell
   With a Dec. 1 deadline looming for Princeton HealthCare System to file its application with the state for its new, state-of-the-art hospital campus, the PHCS trustees are expected to continue evaluating relocation options at their regularly scheduled meeting Monday, PHCS spokeswoman Carol Norris said this week.
   Ms. Norris said the PHCS administration has not yet made a final decision on a relocation site. Asked if the administration hopes to recommend a preferred site to the trustees at Monday’s meeting, she said, "We’re still evaluating site options."
   When asked on Wednesday, the spokeswoman said it is not known at this time whether PHCS expects to reach a decision by Dec. 1, the next deadline to file for a certificate of need for the new campus from the state Department of Health and Senior Services.
   If it does not, PHCS will have to wait until the start of January, the next opportunity to file such an application with the state.
   The state accepts applications only on the first business day of each month. While PHCS has said it is eager to avoid delaying the project by another month, if possible, it has stressed that picking the right site continues to be its priority.
   PHCS’s application, which must be approved by the state health commissioner with input from the state Health Planning Board, must include the proposed location as part of its business plan. Review and approval could take eight months or longer.
   PHCS wants to build a $350 million, 300-bed, state-of-the-art hospital campus on at least 50 acres within two to six miles of the current University Medical Center at Princeton campus on Witherspoon Street, which PHCS has said needs to be replaced.
   Officials at PHCS, the UMCP’s corporate parent, have cited five possible locations in the region as candidates for the new medical campus, two of which they have declined to identify.
   The other three sites are a parcel of Princeton University-owned land off College Road East in Plainsboro that once was part of the former Princeton Nurseries lands; a 71-acre cornfield property at Carnegie Center West in West Windsor, near the Canal Pointe condominiums; and the Bristol-Myers Squibb site across from Lenox corporate offices on Princeton Pike in Lawrence.
   Hospital officials have said each of the three disclosed sites has its unique benefits and drawbacks that PHCS must weigh, such as emergency-vehicle access, location within the region the hospital serves, and ownership versus leasing of the land.
   Meanwhile, the Princeton Regional Planning Board is expected soon to open a public hearing on two proposed amendments to the Princeton Community Master Plan that, if approved, would pave the way for new zoning for the UMCP site.
   The proposed Master Plan amendments would permit the hospital land to be redeveloped for primarily residential uses with limited office and retail.
   Public hearings on the proposed Master Plan amendments are scheduled to begin at the board’s regularly scheduled Dec. 8 meeting.