Sunday, August 13, 2006

RESIDENTS STILL WRANGLING WITH BOCA HOSPITAL OVER CANCER CENTER


Boca Raton Community Hospital wants to build a 98,000 sq ft 3-story high-tech cancer treatment center on the 4-acre site of the vacant Town Center Patio apartments at the corner of 13th Street and 7th Avenue which will be called the Lynn Comprehensive Cancer Center. The hospital paid $13-MM for the Town Center Patio apartment building earlier this year and plans to demolish it.

While the matter seemed to have been settled a year ago, according to an attorney for the hospital, Wendy Larsen, objectors have thrown new demands on the table – including moving the entire building further down 13th Street so there will be no access from 7th Avenue. Some area homeowners who want to keep NW 7th Avenue a residential street, particularly those on the board of the adjacent Lands End townhouse community, say a multi-story cancer treatment building would create traffic, noise and privacy problems.

The hospital agreed to move the new building further away from the Lands End property line and scrap a proposed covered overpass leading to the parking garage across the street. Hospital officials said that design changes have already been made, along with signs pointing drivers away from the residential area, and landscaping also has been enhanced, with these modifications done to please residents costing $400,000. It is hoped that the proposal for the cancer center will go before the planning & Zoning Board in September and to City Council in October.

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