Newman Regional Health leadership expressed support for Thursday’s Lyon County Commission decision to put a six-month moratorium on any zoning or building permit processing related to medical facilities. Stormont-Vail leadership did not.
In a news release Friday, Communications Supervisor Molly Horan says the hospital administration, as well as the team of physicians, providers, nurses and other staff at the Emporia Cotton O’Neil Clinic housed at Newman Regional Health, are “extremely disappointed” by the county’s action. Horan says the moratorium may delay Stormont’s plans to build a new medical facility in Lyon County, which is now listed as a $40 million investment — up from the $32 million cost initially announced last fall.
Horan also says the delay may “also have a detrimental ripple effect on other economic developments in Lyon County.” Horan referenced an expiring lease agreement for Stormont-Vail at Newman Regional and “inadequate and outdated space Stormont-Vail utilizes” at the Emporia hospital — and she chastised the county for “taking this step without any input from the local healthcare community, the business and patients who will be significantly impacted by these actions.”
Following Thursday’s meeting, County Commission Chair Rollie Martin said the county developed the moratorium idea so the Lyon County Planning and Appeals Board could develop and review zoning policy for medical facilities, a step the county did not take when it reset overall zoning procedures several years ago.
On Friday, both Martin and Lyon County Counselor Molly Priest have confirmed Stormont’s purchase of land at the southeast corner of Road 180 and Americus Road — an area that has several spot-zoned city properties, including the DeBauge Soccer Complex and Farm Credit on the east side of Road G and the Evergy service center on the west side. The intersection’s southeast corner, however, is in Lyon County and is considered as unincorporated.
Initially owned by The Bailey Group LP, Stormont acquired the 20-acre property April 10, according to records submitted to KVOE News. The Lyon County Register of Deeds recorded the purchase May 10.
Last fall, Stormont-Vail administration approached Newman Regional Health leaders privately about plans to build a new medical center in Emporia. Newman Regional Health countered publicly with a package of proposed zoning code text changes to both protect its financial interests and add review benchmarks for the Emporia City Commission to use with outside medical projects, but it did not take that step with Lyon County government. The Metropolitan Area Planning Commission moved the zoning package to the City Commission with no recommendation. City Commissioners have not made a decision on the package, delaying a decision until a mediated conversation could end between the two hospital systems. Both sides issued a joint statement earlier this week saying the process has finished and the two sides are committed to the best care of area patients, but neither side mentioned any official outcome related to the discussion.
