Peconic Bay Medical Center’s plan to build a three-story addition on its main campus in Riverhead will be the subject of a public hearing before the Riverhead Town Board this afternoon.
The hospital, which early this year merged with Manhasset-based Northwell Health, proposes to construct a $42.6 million addition near the existing emergency department, complete with a rooftop helipad. The new construction would accommodate a future emergency department expansion as well as a catheterization/electrophysiology suite with two catheterization labs and a nine-bay prep and recovery area.
The town board last month adopted a new hospital zoning use district that granted it — rather than the planning board — jurisdiction over site plan review in that district. That was done in an effort to expedite the review, according to Supervisor Sean Walter, because Peconic Bay was “in a race” with Southampton Hospital to win N.Y. State Health Department approval for the cardiac catheterization lab that would serve the entire East End.
The state health department staff recommended approval for the PBMC application, but a committee of the state Public Health and Health Planning Council instead approved both PBMC’s and Southampton Hospital’s applications.
The full council will likely take up the matter at its meeting this month.
PBMC’s site plan application depicts a 70-foot tall, three-story addition.
Board members meeting last week with the applicant’s attorney and chairwoman Sherry Patterson raised concerns about the adequacy of parking as the hospital expands.
Today’s public hearing is scheduled for 215 p.m. at Riverhead Town Hall.
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