The University of Utah wants to expand its health sciences complex by adding a $40 million outpatient surgery and medical building next to Primary Children's Medical Center.
But U. neighbors worry the addition will further increase the heavy traffic to the U. in their neighborhoods."We want the university to talk about what negative impacts there will be with a building of this size," said Terry Becker of the University Neighborhood Alliance, a group representing the five community councils that border the U.
She said in discussion with alliance members, U. officials have talked about need but have not addressed the expansion's impact on surrounding areas.
U. officials told the U. Board of Trustees, the university's governing council, that the cost and size of the building haven't been determined, although a sheet given to the board said it would cost $40 million and contain 250,000 square feet. U. President Arthur K. Smith said those numbers are very tentative.
The U. also announced it plans to construct, with federal funds recently appropriated by Congress, a $15 million, 60,000-square-foot computer research building on the north end of the campus. Neighbors also wonder about the impact of this building, which will probably be near heavily used 100 South.
M. Peter Heilbrun, acting chairman of department of neurosurgery, told the trustees that a medical faculty/staff committee was organized about two years ago to look at ways to handle the increasing patient loads at U. Hospital and its clinics.
The U. Hospital has about 15,000 inpatient admissions annually, Heilbrun said. While the optimal occupancy rate is about 85 percent, the hospital's occupancy has been running above that rate. Last Thursday, the hospital was full, he said, and it has experienced a number of full-occupancy days.
"The hospital just doesn't function very well when it's 100 percent full," the physician said.
Additionally, outpatient services have increased 12 percent annually, with 400,000 annual outpatient visits expected by the year 2000, he reported.
"We're really bulging at the seams," Heilbrun said.
The new building, which would be built on the western edge of the complex between Primary Children's Medical Center and the department of health building, would consolidate the ambulatory clinics and outpatient surgery and would include some academic space. Other expansion possibilities include the leasing of space to the health department in the new building, the addition of PCMC parking and the remodeling of hospital space for inpatient beds, he said.
Opened in 1965, the U. hospital underwent a $46 million expansion in 1981.
The trustees approved the new outpatient building "in concept" but the plans ruffled some trustees, who first heard about them on Monday.
Are we just a consent group or are we involved in U. strategic planning? asked trustee John Price. "The surgery has been performed, the sutures are healing and the patient is ready to go home. I'd like to have been there when the accident happened," he said.
However, Smith emphasized that Monday's discussion was just the beginning of a lengthy approval process, which will likely take a year, and will include the regents, hospital board members, trustees, community members and lawmakers.
Trustee Nancy Pace, who represents the University area on the Salt Lake City Council, wanted to know about the university's long-range plans for the health sciences complex.
Although the U. is consistently involved in strategic planning, Smith said it would be a "fraud" to project plans beyond five years in the fast-changing field of medicine.
However, Becker told the Deseret News that the neighborhood group wants a U. long-range master plan and environmental reviews for any U. expansion. The University of California requires both for its facilities, she said.
Pace also said she'd learned that orthopedics was investigating construction of its own 80,000-square-foot outpatient facility in Research Park, a move that would impact neighbors south of the campus. The neighbors heard about this plan "through the grapevine," she said.
Heilbrun confirmed that the orthopedics department is looking at a Research Park site as an option, but he said he hopes the orthopedic surgeons will decide against it in favor of the outpatient building proposal in the health sciences complex.
On the computational science building, Thomas Nycum, U. vice president for administrative services, said the site hasn't been selected for the federally funded, $15 million facility, although it will probably be in the north campus with other science buildings.
The new building will house high-performance computing and research groups from several scientific disciplines. Smith said it will be "absolutely neutral in terms of traffic. It won't bring new people to the campus."