The Lyon County Planning and Appeals Board has recommended changes to the county’s zoning text when it comes to licensed medical facilities.
Board members voted unanimously to remove references to hospitals, replacing those references with a designation change to licensed medical facilities and then adding text for defining certain kinds of medical facilities as well as text for applicability, site plans and provided services.
Board Chair Mike Langley says there have been concerns about the potential impact of a new $44 million medical facility from Stormont Vail, now tentatively slated for the southeast corner of Roads 180 and G, on Newman Regional Health.
The Planning Board’s action follows a vote by Emporia commissioners last month to annex the land in question after a request from Stormont Vail — at the opposition of Newman Regional Health, which had proposed text changes in late 2023 as a way to protect its financial status, minimize or eliminate duplicated services from other medical operations and give local government entities more oversight for incoming projects, and also at the opposition of Lyon County commissioners, who say the city jumped the gun and went against a tentative agreement involving the county and both hospitals.
Left unsaid — and to a degree undetermined — is the impact on the immediate situation. The property was annexed into the city in November but remains zoned by the county. The Planning Board action puts the zoning text changes in front of county commissioners for a vote on final approval Dec. 27 at the earliest, unless it’s tabled. The Metropolitan Area Planning Commission, the city’s counterpart to the Planning Board, meets this upcoming Tuesday but does not have a zoning request for the Roads 180 and G property in front of it at this time.
This path is the latest development in a conversation that started in the summer of 2023 when Stormont told Newman Regional about its plans for a new facility, with Newman Regional countering with the request for zoning text changes. A string of facilitated discussions followed early this year as Stormont finalized plans to purchase land at Roads 180 and G. Earlier this year, Stormont said it would not include surgery in a new facility for at least five years, but it plans to include its other current services at the Cotton O’Neil Clinic, including family medicine, internal medicine, pediatrics, OB/GYN, behavioral health, a range of medical specialty clinics and diagnostic services.
Newman Regional Health has said any duplicative services through a new Stormont facility would be damaging to its financial health and has been bracing for losses of up to $2 million per year with imaging alone if Stormont builds a standalone medical center.
