Community Memorial Rebuilds
Last night, the Design Review Committee, the City Council and the Planning Commission gave thumbs up to the design concept for a new Community Memorial Hospital.
Practically every hospital in the state is faced with replacing their existing facilities.
Why?
Because the State passed a law requiring them to meet stringent new earthquake standards designed to ensure that hospitals will not only withstand a major shaker -- but will be able to stay in full operation to handle casualties.
Community Memorial Hospital isn't part of a big national chain. It is a local non-profit that traces its history back more than a century to the first hospital in our county. It will cost around $300 million for the full cost of making the transition, so the hospital is under enormous pressure to hold down costs and produce a new facility that will improve their efficiency and service levels to their patients.
Given the recent flap over the height of the new County clinic nearby, there is (pardon the pun) "heightened" concern over a large new building. But the City's first concern is that the new hospital campus fits in with the surrounding neighborhood at the ground level. Too many hospitals have either moved out to a remote location where they can sprawl behind a big fence or end up imposing blank and ugly walls that kill pedestrian life in an existing neighborhood.
So the City encouraged CMH and their design team to hold a public "charette" to get input from Midtown residents and businesspeople as they worked to fit their new hospital into the existing area.
There was strong support that they succeeded last night. The hospital plans a square or plaza in front of their new entrance that will be designed as both an attractive entryway and a new public amenity in the Five Points district.
The hospital's preliminary architectural design didn't get rated as highly. But there was optomism expressed that the same collaborative spirit that led to agreement on where the building will go will result in the landmark new building one that Venturans can take pride in.
For more info on the design, read the staff report prepared for the meeting at:
posted by Rick Cole at
9:59 AM
2 Comments:
Let's hope that CMH can negotiate this development without too much resistance from the View Police. If we can't keep jobs in Ventura, where will we get the bread to eat?
The View Police don't care where you get your bread to eat. The one and only consideration is the presevation of their views.
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