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Hearing underway as neighborhood group tries to curb expansion of Swedish Cherry Hill

Screenshot-2015-01-11-at-8.19.34-PM-400x284A city arbiter’s office is the latest arena for the drawn out struggle over the planned expansion of the Swedish Medical Center’s Cherry Hill campus.

On Monday, the city’s Office of the Hearning Examiner started day-long hearings to resolve an appeal neighbors filed against the city for approving an environmental study of the hospital’s plans, drafted by developer Sabey Corporation.

Concerned Neighbors of Swedish Cherry Hill claim the Department of Planning and Development failed to fully assess the impact of the hospital’s expansion on the surrounding area. Ultimately, the group is hoping the appeal will force Swedish to heed neighborhood concerns.

The most pressing concern for neighbors is that the building plans are too big and too tall to fit into the largely residential area. Lack of parking, obstructed views, and flimsy traffic mitigation plans are also cited in the group’s appeal. According to Swedish, the 1.6 million square foot site is nearly at capacity and needs to build up in order to continue serving its growing patient population.

The hearings are expected to last at least through the end of the week.

The fight over the hospital’s planned expansion goes back two years to when members of a Community Advisroy Committee started weighing in on the hospital’s Major Institution Master Plan. During the course of those meetings, the group managed to whittle down the size of the hospital’s proposals, but a consensus was never reached.

Swedish was recently the target of a large protest over nursing shortages and the improved benefits to attract new hires. Hundreds of hospital workers, union organizers, and a handful of elected officials staged a picket outside the First Hill campus against the management of the Providence Health Services-allied hospital.

For more details on the Swedish Cherry Hill appeal and recordings of the proceedings, visit the hearing examiner’s case page

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Gordon Werner
Gordon Werner
8 years ago

Meanwhile we are excited for Swedish First Hill to start building their two new medical towers at Boren/Columbia/Minor/Cherry as well as at the corner of Minor Ave & Marion St.

Virchow
Virchow
8 years ago

I find the traffic argument to be the most compelling. This is and will continue to be a major employment center and though located in Central Seattle, there is no adequate access to transit. THere are two bus lines the 3 and the 4 that stop near the hospital. And these lines are effectively the same line (I think they are up for consolidation). If we want to densify the neighborhood we need to provide good transit. We don’t need an employer forcing the creation more single car traffic in Seattle.

alibumbayay
alibumbayay
8 years ago

The Swedish corporation has been such a poor neighbor for so long that it’s exhausting to keep fighting them. I’m still burning after they single handedly “rebranded” (god, I hate that phrase) the Squire Park neighborhood to “Cherry Hill.” (They could have at least planted cherry trees to try and authenticate the new name.) Every choice they make has been a disruption to Squire Park.