Barton delays Stateline hospital effort to October

The delay of a hearing on map and zoning text amendments dealing with a proposed construction of a hospital in Stateline has affected other hearings on the subject.

Originally scheduled for today, a planning commission hearing has been delayed until Oct. 8 to discuss the issue. 

Douglas County commissioners could introduce the ordinance at their mid-October meeting and conduct a hearing in November, Douglas County Planner Kate Moroles-O’Neil said on Monday, but those dates are tentative.

The project must also be approved by the Tahoe Regional Planning Agency, whose Advisory Planning Commission was to hear the item on Sept. 11, only if it was approved by the county.

According to TRPA.gov, the item would then go to the Regional Plan Implementation Committee of agency’s governing board before going to the governing board on Oct. 23. That timeline was based on the county process being wrapped up by October, something that’s unlikely to happen.

The hospital is proposed for the former site of the Lakeside Inn & Casino, which closed for the coronavirus outbreak in March 2020 and never reopened.

Barton purchased the site two years ago, as first reported by The Record-Courier. The former casino has been demolished and site work is underway on the site under a permit approved by the agency.

“Excavation was a necessary part of the demolition, grading, and site work which Barton applied for voluntarily,” according to the agency’s web site. “The grading does not pre-determine the final design of a project.”

The hospital is proposing a 55-bed facility and 200,000 square feet of acute care. The hospital will adjoin Laura Drive and the Oliver Park General Improvement District.

That approval would include establishing a hospital district in Stateline and amending the South Shore Area Plan, which is a planning document shared by the agency and the county.

“The amendments would create a special subdistrict specific to a hospital use that would include an area on the north side of Highway 50 where maximum allowable building height would be 85 feet from natural grade,” according to the Agency. “According to the applicants, building standards for hospitals require additional height for each floor to accommodate special equipment and other needs. The current allowable height on the parcel is 56 feet. The previous Lakeside Inn and Casino was approximately 60 feet from natural grade at the rear of the building.”

Barton is a nonprofit currently headquartered in South Lake Tahoe.

Barton Health CEO Dr. Clint Purvance said the move was required by the age of the main building on its current campus, which has reached the end of its useful life.

The issue is that the land available in Stateline will require the hospital to build up, hence the 85-foot peak. Purvance told planning commissioners on Aug. 13 that a proposed helicopter landing pad could be placed on either side of the structure.

The height of the structure and a variety of other issues have prompted neighbors to argue against approving the building.

A new hospital in Stateline would be located some distance from South Lake Tahoe’s center of population.