Business & Tech

HCMC Plans Clinic at Shady Oak and Excelsior

City officials will have to weigh whether the clinic fits with Southwest Light Rail plans for the area.

Minnetonka residents could face another health clinic debate

Hennepin Health Services, a part of Hennepin County Medical Center, wants to build “Shady Oak Medical Facility” at 11525 Excelsior Boulevard—at the southeast corner of the Shady Oak Road/Excelsior Boulevard intersection and close to a future light rail station.


Changing demographics

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HCMC is considering the site in part because it decided not to build a clinic at Interstate 394 and Hopkins Crossroad. 

It also anticipates increasing demand in an area that’s seen the departure of two clinics—the 2009 closure of the Park Nicollet clinic in downtown Hopkins and the relocation of Park Nicollet’s Minnetonka clinic to Shorewood.

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Although overall population in the area should stay pretty level, the number of residents older than 55 is expected to grow significantly by 2017, according to a June presentation. HCMC expects a 14.7 percent growth in the 55- to 64-year-old age group between 2012 and 2017 and a 13.4 percent growth in the 65-and-older age group. 

In all, the health care network expects the Shady Oak service area to need 11 more primary care providers and 40 more specialty care providers by 2018.

Consequently, the organization wants to build a facility in the existing 22,000-square-foot building with a 10,000-square-foot emergency department and a 12,000-square-foot outpatient clinic. The emergency department would be a level III trauma center that would provide care for heart attacks, strokes, fractures and similar emergencies, in addition to having ambulances on standby for transport to centers with higher levels of care. It would provide emergency care to patients regardless of their ability to pay. 

The outpatient clinic would provide primary and specialty care, as well as lab, radiology and pharmacy services.

 

Vision for the area

Medical clinics are allowed on the site under existing zoning, but rules to make the area compatible with the incoming Southwest Light Rail Transit project limit redevelopment that is not considered “transit friendly.”

These new rules curtail typical suburban development by restricting approval of rezoning, variances and conditional use permits and by limiting building investments to 50 percent of the current improvement value. Both types of restrictions would block the new clinic.

The city could instead use an interim use permit process. That process is normally reserved for seasonal or event-based exemptions but suitable here since clinics are allowed as a conditional use under the underlying zoning rules.

The decision will ultimately come down to whether city officials think the clinic is a good fit for the area. Planning is already well underway for the area around the nearby Shady Oak light rail station, which is expected to be just south of 17th Avenue and Excelsior Boulevard in Hopkins.

The Planning Commission will consider whether the project is a good fit for the site at its meeting Thursday, and the City Council should consider the issue Aug. 5. Residents will be able to offer their input at both meetings.

The developer will then decide whether to file a formal application with the city. If that happens, the city will notify nearby property owners and host a neighborhood meeting. The Planning Commission will then review the formal plans, and the City Council will take action on the request.


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