Munson wants to re-route Kids Creek

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Munson Medical Center is reportedly buying the Members Credit Union Building on Beaumont Place, just north of its campus, as part of its expansion plans. Record-Eagle/Jan-Michael Stump

February 1, 2012

By Bill O'Brien bobrien@record-eagle.com The Record Eagle Wed Feb 01, 2012, 07:28 AM EST

TRAVERSE CITY — Munson Medical Center wants to reroute part of Kids Creek and make other Sixth Street campus changes among its short- and long-term expansion plans.

Hospital officials will meet with area residents and city planners next week to discuss near-term expansion projects — including a new cancer center — and lay out conceptual plans for a new bed tower.

But Munson's facility plans continue to evolve as the hospital deals with changes in health care payments and regulations that have affected hospitals across the country.

"We are revising some of our plans," said Kathleen McManus, Munson Medical Center's chief operating officer. "There's a lot going on in health care right now."

Traverse City's planning commission will review Munson's conceptual site and facility plan on Feb. 8. It identifies six potential development sites at its main campus, including its parking lot at Sixth and Elmwood streets and property immediately north of its main hospital building.

Land along the west side of Beaumont Place is targeted for new development, while the east side of the street would be used for green space and to relocate Kids Creek north of the hospital.

The hospital bought a former credit union building along Beaumont Place and will use that property to replace an underground creek channel and move the stream to the street's east side. The creek will run above ground, link to the existing stream along Sixth Street and leave property west of Beaumont available for future expansion.

But specific expansion decisions haven't been finalized, McManus said. Munson Healthcare expects to move ahead with plans for a new cancer center north of Sixth Street within the next five years. But other major projects, including its talked-about bed tower, could be several years away.

Changes in health care coverage from both public and private insurers has reduced the hospital's inpatient bed demand and could forestall the need for more beds, she said.

"I would not anticipate seeing any huge buildings going up in the next five years," McManus said. "I'm not anticipating you'll see anything other than the cancer center across (Sixth) street."

City planner Russ Soyring said Munson's plans are "very conceptual in nature," but any building projects would have to follow specific zoning. The maximum allowable building height in the Munson campus is 110 feet, up to about seven stories, he said. Facilities that would significantly increase trips to the site would require separate planning commission review and approval, he said.

The city's master plan also calls for the most intense land uses to be in the center of the medical campus, Soyring said. The city continues to emphasize use of multiple access points to Munson so its traffic isn't concentrated on just a few streets.

"If we have multiple access points to the hospital, that's beneficial," Soyring said.

Nearby residents are monitoring Munson's expansion plans and said vehicle traffic generated by the hospital is always a concern.

"They can certainly put more buildings and rooms and stuff in that medical campus," said Michael Gaines, president of the Slabtown Neighborhood Association. "The traffic to and from it is only going to increase, and people are concerned about that."

McManus said Munson is sensitive to traffic flow, and hospital officials plan to relocate some operations to reduce trips to the main campus. Munson will purchase about 45,000 square feet at the Copper Ridge medical complex off Silver Lake Road near its surgical center and will send there about 220 employees who work in accounting, information systems and scheduling. That move should begin by fall.

Environmental groups are working with Munson on its plans to relocate Kids Creek. Sarah U'Ren, program director for the Watershed Center Grand Traverse Bay, said re-aligning the creek and bringing it aboveground should improve its fish habitat and provide better drainage for surrounding properties.

The changes would need approval from the state Department of Environmental Quality.

"The good thing about it is that it will be a natural creek again," U'Ren said.