Town objects to hospital

Township claims residents well served by existing hospitals and objects to CHS failure to address questions about proposed Princess Road hospital.

By:Lea Kahn Staff Writer
   Lawrence Township officials have said, "Thanks, but no thanks" to Capital Health System’s proposal to relocate its Mercer campus hospital from Trenton to a 32-acre site on Princess Road, off Franklin Corner Road.
   Municipal Manager Richard Krawczun informed the state Department of Health and Human Services on Monday that Lawrence opposes Capital Health Systems’ plans for a 360-bed hospital in the township.
   Capital Health Systems officials were surprised by Lawrence officials’ opposition to the hospital’s proposed move, said Dennis Dooley, vice president for planning and development, on Tuesday.
   In a letter written to DHSS Monday that outlined the township’s opposition to Capital Health Systems’ plans, Mr. Krawczun wrote that Lawrence residents are already "well served" by available medical care and hospitals in Princeton, Hamilton and Trenton.
   "These hospitals and their convenient locations more than adequately serve the needs of our residents," Mr. Krawczun wrote. "Furthermore, Lawrence Township recognizes the importance of Capital Health Mercer to the residents of our neighbor, the City of Trenton."

   Township officials want the letter to be included in as public comment on the Trenton hospital system’s certificate of need application, he said Monday. Obtaining approval for a certificate of need is the first step in building a new hospital or relocating an existing one.
   Mr. Krawczun said township officials’ decision to oppose Capital Health Systems’ proposed project had been made a few days prior to the May 10 public hearing in Trenton, and that the presentation solidified that opposition.
   "The information that I had the opportunity to listen to at the public hearing supported Lawrence’s position about some of the issues I raised (in the letter) — the availability of medical care and the true need for the hospital to remain in Trenton," he said.
   Mr. Krawczun said township officials had reservations about the project since it was proposed by Capital Health Systems officials in January 2005.
   "We were always open to listening to the possibilities and scenarios that Capital Health Systems was considering, but as the project evolved, our level of reservations increased," he said. The initial concept plan suggested a two- or three-story building with a parking lot and gardens, he said. The hospital rooms would be private rooms.
   Since the initial concept plan was presented to the township in 2005, the plan has grown to include a six- or seven-story building with as many as 500 hospital beds, a parking garage and a regional cancer treatment center, Mr. Krawczun said. The plans were discussed in meetings with Capital Health Systems representatives, he added.
   Township officials raised questions almost from the minute that Capital Health Systems approached the township about the proposed hospital, he said. Those concerns include the lack of bus service to the proposed site, the traffic impact, the building height and the issue of ambulances traveling through residential areas, he said.
   Answers to those questions have not been provided, Mr. Krawczun said, adding that the township’s traffic consultant received some preliminary traffic impact information about a week before the May 10 public hearing — despite repeated requests for that information.
   The decision to oppose the hospital culminated when he wrote the letter, Mr. Krawczun said, adding that he drafted the May 15 letter on behalf of the township administration. He said he spoke to Township Council members individually about the letter, either through telephone conversations or chance meetings at the Municipal Building over the past week. The letter was never discussed or voted upon during a Township Council meeting, nor did the council ask him to write it, he added.
   Mr. Dooley said Capital Health Systems has been working with the township’s elected officials and staff on the proposal for the last 18 months. Despite the township’s letter, he said, hospital officials are hopeful that the hospital and the township can continue discussing the proposed move.
   Mr. Dooley said Capital Health Systems is "absolutely not" abandoning its plans to bring a new hospital to the Princess Road site. That is the only site that the hospital system owns in Lawrence and the only site it is considering, he said.
   In the letter to the DHSS, Mr. Krawczun wrote that the proposed site on Princess Road is not zoned for a hospital, and changing the zoning to accommodate the proposed $291 million hospital would have "substantial" implications.
   "A hospital in this area of Lawrence Township will develop an intensity of use that will have profound impacts on the community and lack compatibility to surrounding land uses," the municipal manager wrote.
   "A change in site will not resolve concerns the township has with this certificate of need application," Mr. Krawczun wrote. "Simply, Lawrence Township does not support a hospital use for the selected site or any site within the municipality."
   Mr. Krawczun said the Planning Board’s recently approved Master Plan re-examination report considered the issue of relocating one of the two Capital Health Systems hospitals to Lawrence. The re-examination report is simply an itemization of 18 issues — including the hospital — that the Planning Board could further study, he added.
   "The position of Lawrence Township is, at this time, to oppose Capital Health Systems’ certificate of need application," he said. "If the certificate of need is approved, then the issue of zoning and planning will be handled by the appropriate township board. It would be premature (to comment on whether the township would change the zoning if the certificate of need is approved)."
   Mayor Michael Powers and Mr. Krawczun said township residents have expressed growing opposition to the proposal to relocate Capital Health Systems’ Mercer campus hospital to Lawrence. The mayor said he has received many telephone calls from residents, all opposed to the plan to move the hospital.
   "From a policy perspective, there is the issue of a certificate of need for a hospital," Mayor Powers said. "The medical needs of township residents are more than adequately served by the University Medical Center at Princeton, Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital in Hamilton and Capital Health Systems-Fuld in Trenton. We are really surrounded by hospitals."
   Mayor Powers said "the other issue" is that Capital Health Systems envisions a regional medical center at the Princess Road site, including a cancer center. A regional hospital would draw patients from Pennsylvania, as well as from the immediate area, he said.
   "There would be all of the traffic that goes along with a regional hospital, 24 hours a day," Mayor Powers said. He added that Princess Road was not designed to carry such heavy volumes of traffic, noting that a regional hospital would turn Princess Road into another Princeton Pike, which is designed for heavy traffic.
   Mayor Powers rejected Capital Health Systems officials’ claim that a suburban setting is necessary for the hospital system to be economically viable. He pointed to Cooper Medical Center in Camden and the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia as examples of successful hospitals in urban settings.
   Mayor Powers and Mr. Krawczun agreed that residents would seek out the best medical care available, regardless of the hospital’s location. If a state-of-the-art hospital were to be built in Trenton, township residents would seek out that hospital, the mayor said.
   Mr. Dooley noted the opposition by township residents, and added that the issue had not been given a public hearing in Lawrence. Through more dialogue, it may be possible for the hospital system to prevail upon township officials to change their position, he said.
   Mr. Dooley said there has been much "misinformation" about the move circulating in Trenton, and that Capital Health Systems has met with individuals and groups to explain the facts — something that he hopes can occur in Lawrence to clear up any misperceptions.
   "We believe Lawrence is a good place (to relocate to), and we are hopeful that Lawrence will reconsider its position and make its decision on informed facts," Mr. Dooley said, adding that "it is important to make the right decision at the right time for the right reasons."