Lawrence Cancer Center: Despite Move to Zoning Board, Project a Long Way From Approval

Despite being advised to begin an application process with the Bronxville Zoning Board, officials were no closer to getting approval for plans for a new cancer center following Tuesday night’s Planning Board Special Meeting dedicated solely to the project, which continues to face strong opposition from nearby residents and has yet to leave Planning Board members convinced.

Tuesday’s Special Meeting was held due to the large number of applications the Planning Board has received in the month of September, allowing all parties involved to consider and discuss the cancer center project without any time constraints.

The meeting began with a review of the modified plans submitted by Lawrence Hospital, which included the taking out of a second exit and hallway from the new addition, as well as the inclusion of windows on the side of the building facing the road. Both items have been a point of concern for residents and Board members . A spokesperson for Lawrence Hospital also pointed out that plans have been altered so that the chillers that would be located on the top of the cancer center – which are expected to be a major source of noise – have been moved to another side of the roof, further away from Alger Courts and nearby residents. 

Board members and members of the public then heard from a number of Lawrence Hospital’s consultants, including a sound and acoustics specialist, who summarized a series of tests performed in recent days to determine current noise levels experienced by Alger Courts residents due to the hospital. The acoustic specialist described a number of the tests performed – including one involving taking sound measurements with the majority of the hospital’s mechanical and rooftop equipment first on and then off – concluding that there was no “measurable” difference between the two readings.

An architect speaking on the behalf of Lawrence Hospital then addressed the Board, saying that the current project footprint is the “bare minimum space necessary to maintain the operating rooms,” and outlining further alterations made at the request of residents and Board members, including improved landscaping around the cancer center and an 18-inch cut back from the building’s original plans. New plans also include a 13-foot cut back from one of the sides of the top of the building, which would allow for additional green space similar to the roof garden already at the hospital.

Upon request from one of the Board members, it was pointed out that the closest the new cancer center would come to the nearby sidewalk bordering Ponfield Road would be 4 ½ feet. The closest it would come to the Alger Courts property line would be 2 ½ feet.

Lawrence Hospital President and CEO Ed Dinan also took the podium at Tuesday’s meeting, stressing the need for the hospital to upgrade and modernize its operating rooms – built in the 1950s – and asking the Planning Board to refer the project to the Zoning Board. 

Board members next heard from consultants hired by the Village of Bronxville, the first of which expressed the need for details to be worked out concerning issues of construction parking and management. Lawrence Hospital officials have been looking into using a parking garage on Palmer Avenue to accommodate the construction vehicles that would be needed for the project, although this appeared to be a point of concern for both residents and board members.

The Village’s acoustic specialist was next to speak, and expressed significant concerns about the “residual noise” readings taken during the latest sound study, saying there is at this time “insufficient information in writing to make any kind of assessment.” He added that the reports given Tuesday addressed only “existing noise” and not “future noise,” and that there needs to be a better effort to distinguish noise levels attributable to the hospital from those from outside sources such as cars, airplanes and insects.

Finally, Board members had a chance to comment on the revised version of the project, although it was quickly clear that a number of questions had been left unanswered and that a certain level of uneasiness about the plans lingered. Planning Board Chairman Donald Henderson told fellow Board members that the goal was to “come to a view” on the revised plans, although he stressed that the project would still have to go through the Zoning Board and obtain a number of essential variances, which he explained had nothing to do with the Planning Board. Although Board members recognized that Lawrence Hospital had in fact made a number of the adjustments suggested at prior meetings, the results of the latest noise study were once again a source of confusion and issues of construction parking and routes to be taken by construction crews were also a concern.

Board members next heard from a number of Alger Court residents and their attorneys, who unanimously opposed the newest version of the project, citing noise, parking, environmental and pedestrian safety issues – among others – as reasons why the Board should not approve the project as currently presented. A number of representatives from the also spoke at Tuesday’s meeting, expressing their complete opposition to the project’s proposed footprint, and calling for Lawrence Hospital officials to consider other sites and plans for the cancer center – including one submitted by Lawrence Hospital in 2006 which involved “in house” renovations. The concern that the new cancer center would be the first step in a “master plan” that would lead to further expansions and construction was also expressed. 

Despite the fact that the cancer center project will now be simultaneously discussed by the Planning Board and Zoning Board of Bronxville, Christopher Rizzo of Carter Ledyward & Milburn LLP – who is representing the Committee To Save Bronxville’s Westside and spoke at Tuesday’s meeting – believes hospital officials will have a tough time getting approval for the plans from Zoning, especially considering what he believes is the biggest part of the process has yet to be addressed. 

“I don’t think either the Planning Board or the Zoning Board as a matter of law can approve or process this application,” Rizzo said. “It’s deficient as matter of law. There are these planning considerations and the hospital’s needs versus the effects on the community, but we don’t even need to get to those questions. It’s just deficient on its face, as a matter of law. And one of the things that’s incredibly frustrating about the discussion tonight is that there’s been no discussion about compliance with the law in New York State that requires environmental review before administrative agencies like this make any decisions. Until they address that, this application shouldn’t progress at all.”

Despite continued opposition to the project from nearby residents, Dinan called Tuesday’s meeting a “favorable and positive step forward,” and says plans will continue to be considered largely “as is.”

“Obviously the process is frustrating but it’s the way it’s designed and we’re very appreciative of the board’s efforts to move this thing along,” Dinan said. “From our standpoint it’s the functional interior space that we’re concerned about, so certainly if there are modifications we need to do in terms of landscaping or exterior design we are certainly willing to do what. But the footprint is really dictated by the size requirements of [the equipment needed] and for the need to add those six operating rooms and to have sufficient space for those oncology rooms for the infusion. I’m not interested in building space I don’t need.”

“I think you also have to remember that this is a small number of people in a village that has a lot of support for the hospital and a lot of support for this project,” Dinan added. “We’re just hearing one side of it, and these are people who live next door. I’ve often thought about if I decrease the footprint, if I could, I’m still going to have to construct it. There’s still going to be noise, there’s still going to be traffic. Everybody is supportive, but not in my backyard.” 

The next time the Bronxville Planning Board will meet to discuss the Lawrence Hospital Cancer Center project will be October 12. Considering Board members at the end of Tuesday’s meeting expressed a desire to hear other options in terms of potential sites for the new cancer center, it certainly seems as if an approval for the project is a long way away, although Chairman Henderson says the Board will continue to review the application and hopefully work towards a compromise.

“We just keep going forward, keep considering the application,” Henderson said. “In Bronxville historically we’ve tried to get applicants and neighbors together to work out solutions that are amicable, and we’ve almost never failed to reach that result. Here they seem to still be far apart but we’ll continue to try to get them together.”