Neighbors Concerned by Missouri Baptist Medical Center Expansion

has been constructing a six-story “West Pavilion” on its flagship Town and Country campus since last spring. The tower will become the hospital’s new main entrance and will house operating rooms, procedure space and 96 patient rooms in 216,000 square feet of new space.

The West Pavilion is scheduled for completion in 2013, but the first floor will open as soon as July 2012.

As Missouri Baptist expands, nearby residents are contacting Town and Country - Manchester Patch with concerns. However, Missouri Baptist tells Patch it is working with neighbors to address their worries. A spokesperson said the medical facility has held multiple meetings for residents sharing the plans for "growth for the campus and listening to any concerns that they had."

Nature Trail

Town and Country has required the hospital to construct a nature trail on eight acres of undeveloped land on the southern edge of its campus as part of an ordnance permitting the construction of the West Pavilion.

According to Jesse Arevallo, the hospital’s facility and campus planning director, the hospital purchased various parcels of land south of the campus as a buffer zone decades ago. Part of that land was turned into a parking lot in the 1980s, which required the demolition of a house the hospital purchased.

Missouri Baptist owns both rental homes and undeveloped property along Glenmaro Lane, which parallels Interstate 270 and leads to Clayton Road. Arevallo said the land was purchased before he worked for the hospital, so he could not remark on the exact reasons for its purchase, but he speculated that the hospital may have wanted to preserve future access to Clayton Road.

Residents who live near the hospital told Patch they are worried that Missouri Baptist wants to build a road connecting its campus more directly to Clayton Road and possibly to I-270. Some voice concern that Town and County would lose the charm of being a limited-traffic community if the hospital had additional access to I-270.

Access Denied

Direct access to Clayton Road has been denied by Town and County through city ordnance.  staff tells Patch it would not be in the hospital’s power to build an exit ramp off Highway 270 onto Clayton Road.

“In general, it’s very difficult to put in an access to a major interchange,” said Assistant District Engineer Bill Schnell. “Federal Highway wants at least a mile between exits.” He said that MoDot has given (formly St. John's Mercy) and Missouri Baptist access to Highway 270 at Ballas Road, which is the best it can offer.

“The interstate is not designed to give access to everyone,” Schnell added, pointing out that Highway 270, by its very nature, is a limited access highway. “I would see no benefit” to an exit at Clayton Road, he said.

This does not, however, stop neighbors from worrying about the hospital’s expansion efforts.

The Disappearing Forest

Ellie Bush has lived on Kirken Knoll, immediately south of Missouri Baptist, for at least 40 years and has witnessed the hospital’s growth. Missouri Baptist first open it’s Town and Country hospital in 1965 and has since quadrupled its footprint, based on satellite photos.

Bush claims the hospital has “bulldozed the forest next to me” and has “dumped a mountain of construction debris” near her home. Her home is at the end of a cul-de-sac, neighboring 10 Glenmaro Lane, which the hospital purchased in 1982, according to St. Louis County tax records.

The few acres between Bush’s home and I-270 are the same eight acres that Town and Country asked Missouri Baptist to convert into a nature trail.

Arevallo said that he has tried to appease Bush by building two burms to shelter her home from highway noise. One of the burms is what Bush describes as “a mound of mud” which Arevallo said is simply seedlings right now and the grass needs time to grow. He said he would need to add another thirty feet in height to an existing burm nearest the highway to completely block Bush’s view, but it still wouldn’t be enough to eliminate the noise.

Arevallo also said that he is trying to save as many of the trees on the hospital’s property as possible, and pointed out a 100-year-old tree he’s left undisturbed near the trail. He said that removing trees is very difficult in Town and Country, and that the city will require the hospital to replace any tree they remove during construction. He would much rather save large trees and work around them than replace them with younger, smaller trees later.

He said that some of the land to be converted into the nature trail was already cleared before he was hired in 2004. The hospital had stored salt on the property which leached into the ground and destroyed nearby vegetation. He said the ground required an extensive recovery effort, but is now ready to be replanted.

The eight acres of nature trails will be open by this summer and will connect with a walking path that parallels the hospital’s southern boundary. Arevallo said the nature area will be a hospital owned park with a gazebo, and it will be accessible to the public for the enjoyment of Town and Country residents.

The completion of the nature area is required by Town and Country in order for the hospital to receive an occupancy permit for the West Pavilion currently under construction.

Arevallo said the hospital plans to connect the new trail to the in the future, but it still needs to work out the details with MoDOT. The connecting trail is planned to run along the easement of I-270. The hospital owns most, but not all, of the homes on Glenmaro Lane that will backup to the trail.

On the Horizon:

• Executive Overview of Open-Book Management: A free seminar by the Great Game of Business. December 14, 11:30am at Llywelyn’s Pub in Webster Groves.
• How to Start and Manage Your Own Business: at St. Louis Community College at Meramec, January 14, 8am. Call SCORE at (314) 539-6600, ext. 242 for more information.
• St. Louis Women's Leadership Summit: at the Hyatt Regency St. Louis Arch on January 18 from 7am to 5pm. $200 with early bird registration.