Details of the new 5 and 20 year plans
The 5-year plan doesn't require the acquisition of additional property by ARMC; the boundary of the 5-year plan is ARMC's current boundary. However the southern part of the property will undergo intensive development. Ground-breaking for the small Canc er Care Center on Talmadge Avenue will be in late September. At least six vacant houses on Talmadge (owned by ARMC) will be removed this fall. Construction on the 105,000 square-foot Medical Building 1 (MB1) will begin later this year. After MB1 is comple ted, the buildings currently housing Midwifery and the Commencement Center will be torn down, and a connector road will be built between King and Talmadge, with King entrance just below the Physician's Imaging Center. Three parking lots adjacent to MB1 an d the Cancer Care Center will be constructed. All of this work is projected to be completed in 18 months, by the spring of 2001. The 5-year plan also contains an expansion of the emergency room (C1 on the map). It is not yet clear if and when this will be undertaken.
Some key issues in the 5-year plan remain to be worked out between ARMC and CHN: the design of Medical Building 1, the design of the King-Talmadge connector road, and possible modifications to King Avenue entailed by the connector road. Also the 5-year plan contains the house at 256 King Ave. within the hospital's boundary. CHN has requested that this house be saved and returned to the residential market, or at least preserved with low-impact use by the hospital, such as its current use by grounds main tenance staff.
2. Comparison with the original 5-Year Land Use Plan (December 1998, announced to the public April 1999).
The boundaries of the two plans are the same. The Cancer Care Center has been moved north on Talmadge. The height of Medical Building 1 has been reduced. Direct entrance to the parking lot on King has been replaced by a connector road (originally in th e 10-year plan), and buffering has been added to this parking lot. The Midwifery Center and the Commencement Center are removed in the 5-year plan rather than in the 10-year plan. ARMC will return to the residential market one property on Talmadge, one on Pine Needle, and one on King (currently under contract).
3. The 20-Year Land Use Plan [map]
The 20-year plan requires the acquisition by ARMC of three more houses on Talmadge Ave., for the purpose of constructing a stormwater detention facility between Talmadge and King. It also requires the acquisition of several properties on Georgia Avenue , including the Georgia Avenue Apartments, the El Dorado Apartments, and a wooded lot on the southeast side of Georgia Ave. ARMC will also buy all the commercial property on Prince Ave. between Georgia Ave. and Oglethorpe Ave., including the Black Forest Bakery and the Pizza Hut (1930s gas station). On this property ARMC will build another medical building. (This is labelled Medical Building 3 on the map, but ARMC is considering building it second, after MB1.) The historic gas station will be preserved. T he current parking deck will be greatly expanded, and extended to Georgia Ave. A connector road will be built between Georgia Ave. and Pine Needle Ave., with surface parking south of the connector road. Medical buildings will be constructed at the corner of Pine Needle and Talmadge, and on Prince Avenue at the location of the current Talmadge Heights Building, which will be torn down. A new south tower will be added to the main hospital building, and the existing main building will be expanded vertically.
4. Comparison with the original 20-Year Land Use Plan (December 1998, announced to the public April 1999). [map]
The new 20-year plan has the same total square feet of building space and the same total number of parking spaces as the original 20-year plan.
The large detention "pond" on King Avenue has been removed from the plan, as well as the acquisition of property east of King Avenue. (These changes were announced by the hospital in May.) The large "pond" is now replaced by a smaller "pond" on Talmadg e, included in the 5-year plan. No property is to be acquired on King Avenue. There's no parking deck on King Avenue; it has been replaced by surface parking and by a parking garage under the main hospital expansion. There is only one connector road on Ki ng south of the Physician's Imaging Center. There's no property acquisition on Oglethorpe Avenue, and no connector road to Oglethorpe Ave. The parking deck does not extend to Oglethorpe Ave. One of the two Medical Buildings at the corner of Prince and Ogl ethorpe has been moved east on Prince to the current location of the Talmadge Heights Building.
A key long-range issue remains unresolved: What are ARMC's plans for the old Trusso property on Hillcrest Avenue? ARMC has pledged to work with the neighborhoods on the development of this property, probably as a managed care retirement community. The hospital says it will not purchase further property in this vicinity until these development plans have been worked out.
ARMC states that it may be interested in developing the commercial area across Prince Avenue at some time in the future.
Finally, ARMC wants to establish a process for cooperation with neighborhoods in its ongoing planning and development.
If you have questions about the ARMC plan, please contact one of the CHN representatives to this summer's ARMC Community Advisory Committee: David Lynn, Amy Andrews, Clint McCrory, Gwen O'Looney, Jim Hawkins, and Carol Holmes.
