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23B-046 (211) I hope this letter adequately explains our situation and I hope you can help us by writing a letter to: John O' Donnell, Ed.D, M.P.H. Program Director The Commonwealth of Massachusetts Executive Office of Human Services Department of Public Health Determination of Need Program 150 Tremont Street Boston, MA 02111 If you would just explain the need for the special permit, the timeframe for obtaining one for each project, and any other relevant information. The State requires a response ten days after we received their notification (Sept. 30) . The State is not holding us to this date, but there is some urgency to this response. Thank you so much for your help. Sincerely, Mark Richman Director of Marketing and Planning From my understanding through our attorney, William E. Dwyer, any new construction on the hospital campus requires a special permit. He also said that a principal use of a structure for hospital purposes is not permitted anywhere in Northampton. I was very concerned about this because large capital expenditures such as for the new addition can only be submitted once a year on September 1 . Thus, if the application is not accepted, we would have to delay the project by an entire year. This would mean the costs of the project would increase and the hospital would have to live with all the problems this project was going to remedy for another year. The time frame for the expansion project is quite a distance in the future because projects of this nature usually take the State at least two years to approve. We really do not anticipate initiating construction until 1989, and the project will not be complete until 1991 . Because of this long time span before actual work is done on the project and the pressures to finalize this project , we were reluctant to take it to Zoning at this time. We really did not anticipate these problems with the State since I know of other circumstances recently where Determinations of Need were obtained and then, zoning problems occurred afterwards (i .e. , the proposed nursing home in Hadley) . Furthermore, we are not purchasing new land and we have operated as a hospital on this site for over 100 years . Naturally, this situation concerns me greatly. However, I was very relieved this morning after I spoke to one of the attorneys at the Department of Public Health. Apparently, there is a big difference according to the Determination of Need regulation whether a variance or special permit is needed. The situation is much better and our applications will be accepted if you can explain to them that all that is needed is a special permit for both these projects . The regulation states that the application will be accepted if authorized by applicable zoning by law or ordinance whether or not by special permit. " If it requires a full variance, it probably would not be accepted and would cause us great problems because the regulation states that the application will be accepted only if " . . . the purpose is not authorized under applicable zoning by-laws or ordinance and variance has been received. " c D 4=s Hos ins�n 30 Locust Street Northampton, MA 01060-9990 (413)584-4090 October 8 , 1986 Edward Tewhi l l Building Inspector City Hall 212 Main Street Northampton, MA 01060 Dear Mr. Tewhill: As we discussed on the telephone yesterday, the State of Massachusetts' Determination of Need Office is uncertain whether to accept our two recent Determination of Need applications because of zoning issues . I am hoping you could resolve this by writing a letter to the State. I will try to explain the problem. On September 1 , 1986 , The Cooley Dickinson Hospital filed two Determination of Need applications . One application is for the purchase of a stationary full-body Computerized Tomography (CT) Scanner for $634 ,252. This involves renovations to the existing physical plant of the hospital and a very small amount of expansion (625 square feet) . The second application is for the construction of a 38 ,240 square foot addition to the hospital. Because the new addition will consist of four floors , it will only extend outward from the existing hospital a maximum of 11 ,500 square feet. The new addition will be used primarily to house hospital services such as Laboratory, Pediatrics and Obstetrics. These services are presently contained in areas of the building close to 80 years old and are beyond renovation. Non-direct patient care services will be relocated in the areas vacated by these services. The new construction will allow for greater efficiency in these departments and the adoption of new services and state-of-the-industry policies in Obstetrics and Pediatrics demanded by the consumers. There are numerous problems associated with operating these services in such old structures such as inability to control climate or properly ventilate these areas. Needless to say, this is a very important project for the hospital and the community.