Downers Grove (Ill.) Village Council members have voted unanimously to endorse Advocate Good Samaritan Hospital's $92-million expansion, according to a Chicago Tribune report.
Given the council's endorsement, the hospital will have more freedom to develop and expand its campus without having to receive approval for every individual building, streamlining the construction process.
Included in expansion plans is a bed tower — slated to complete construction in the spring of 2017 — which will add three floors to the hospital's west wing and a two-story addition to its oncology center. Preliminary plans for expanding the emergency and operating rooms, reconstructing the helipad and upgrading parking over the next decade were also included.
As part of the project, all patient rooms in the facility will become single-occupancy rooms.
Should Advocate Good Samaritan chose to add or modify a building within the approved blueprint, it would need separate authorization from the village's planning board and council.
There are some who are not thrilled about the village's approval including one resident who urged the council members not to approve the plan because the hospital has resisted and refused to manage the invasive vegetation of its buffer zones that could threaten nearby flora, according to the report.
Advocate Good Samaritan's attorney denied the accusations, citing a 1994 agreement among the hospital, DuPage County Forest Preserve, Downers Grove Park District and the village that bars the hospital from dealing with the vegetation, the Chicago Tribune reported.
Downers Grove Mayor Martin Tully agreed that Advocate Good Samaritan's hands are tied but urged the hospital to cooperate in upcoming conversation regarding to new arrangement for the no-disturb buffer zone.
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