Planning Commission to vote on Hoag changes

The Newport Beach Planning Commission is expected to vote tonight on whether or not to give Hoag Memorial Hospital Presbyterian permission to shift up to 225,000 square feet of building space from its lower campus, which stretches along West Coast Highway, to its upper campus bordering Newport Boulevard to build a new 300,000-square-foot tower there.

The commission is scheduled to meet at 6:30 p.m. at Newport Beach City Hall.

Residents of the Villa Balboa condominium complex next to the hospital want Hoag to make amends for noise and air pollution they claim the hospital generates before the hospital gains approval from the city for the project.

The reallocation of unbuilt space would allow the hospital to add more operating rooms and other care facilities.

The residents say loud, idling trucks at Hoag’s loading docks and mechanical equipment cause noise problems at Villa Balboa.

Noise in the area regularly exceeds a 55-decibel city-imposed limit, according to a city-commissioned report on noise levels. Noise in some residential areas around the hospital reaches 67 decibels, according to the report. The hospital has asked the city for a 70-decibel limit in some areas during the daytime, or about as loud as a normal conversation.

Hoag officials also want some slack on city-imposed noise limits. In return for these requests, Hoag would give the city $3 million in development fees for the city to use on road improvements and other city projects.

Hoag has proposed a 6-inch-thick plastic, insulation-filled sound wall that would be as high as 23 feet in some places as a response to noise complaints from Villa Balboa residents.

If approved by the Planning Commission, the project will head next to the Newport Beach City Council for consideration.

BRIANNA BAILEY may be reached at (714) 966-4625 or at [email protected].