Hospital eyes land

PROVO — Located in one of the fastest-growing counties in the nation, Utah Valley Regional Medical Center is feeling pressure to keep up, and some residents living south of the hospital may need to get out of the way.

The hospital, run by Intermountain Healthcare, recently announced plans to expand south to 800 North between 500 West and Freedom Boulevard. UVRMC is not aggressively pursuing the land, however. Hospital administrator Steve Smoot said IHC plans to buy only those houses that are voluntarily put up for sale.

The hospital already owns 17 of the 82 properties it hopes to purchase and is negotiating the sale of five more. Within the next six to eight weeks, 13 houses, located between 940 North and 880 North, will be torn down to make way for a new parking lot.

Hospital administrators met with residents of the neighborhood they hope to buy up on Monday in a meeting organized to calm rumors.

If homeowners don't want to sell, Smoot said, IHC does not plan to buy.

"The city is not going to condemn the property," he said. "I do not want to use eminent domain. I want to work with owners."

Smoot said although the expansion is needed — the hospital is reaching its bed capacity — he is most concerned that people are treated fairly. He even proposed forming a committee of residents to keep the hospital informed of public opinion as the project progresses.

Some residents, though, have no intention of ever selling their homes.

LaWana Draper, 940 N. 300 West, did not know before coming to the meeting that the hospital was interested in purchasing her house. She was shocked when Smoot presented a map of the proposed expansion, which included her home.

Draper said her house was deeded to her family in a trust after her mother-in-law's death.

"I have always believed I would live here until I died," she said. "That hasn't changed. Now I just worry what kind of neighbor the hospital is going to be."

Many residents at the meeting expressed concern that the hospital was not taking care of the property it already owns in the area. The decline of the neighborhood would decrease the value of their property, they said.