AUGUSTA — MaineGeneral Medical Center’s plans for a new regional hospital in north Augusta are up for potential final Planning Board approval tonight.
Hospital officials believe they have addressed the questions raised by city staff and planners in their preliminary review of plans for the proposed new $312 million hospital between the Harold Alfond Center for Cancer Care and Exit 113 off Interstate 95.
“We believe this submission is sufficient to complete site plan review and look forward to continuing what has been an expeditious and straightforward process,” Mark Johnson, a consultant with SMRT, a Portland firm representing the hospital project, said in a 68-page application for a conditional use permit needed from the city before construction can start.
The hospital has received its Certificate of Need for construction from the state. Hospital officials are working to secure financing for the project. Other needs include a site location permit from the state Department of Environmental Protection and a traffic movement permit from the state Department of Transportation.
The proposed four-story, 600,000-square-foot hospital would sit on about 40 acres of a 172-acre site previously used as a golf course in the city’s recently-established Medical District.
MaineGeneral’s downtown hospital in Augusta and the Seton campus in Waterville would close once the new facility is built.
The Planning Board meets tonight at 6:30 in the lecture hall at Augusta City Center.
Planners are also scheduled to hold a public hearing regarding an application to demolish the Augusta Quick Mart, 25 Western Ave., to replace it with a larger convenience store. The site is in the city’s Local Business District and Medium Density Residential District.
The board also will hold a hearing on an application to demolish the EconoLodge hotel at 390 Western Ave., and to construct a new Hampton Inn hotel on the same site.
The EconoLodge property is owned by Stewart Terrace LLC and contains several other businesses, including Margaritas Mexican Restaurant, Enterprise Car Rental and Augusta Capri Apartments — all of which remain open and operating even as EconoLodge has closed.
If plans filed with the city are approved, only the hotel would be demolished, to be replaced with the new hotel. The site is in the Regional Business District.
The MaineGeneral application for a conditional use permit to allow the hospital project to move forward is last on tonight’s agenda. Board meeting policy states any application reviews not started by 10 p.m. may be tabled until a future meeting.
Keith Edwards — 621-5647
kedwards@centralmaine.com
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