Questions linger on freestanding ER

For a second time, the Winter Garden City Commission, at its Thursday, May 9 meeting decided to postpone the discussion on a new proposed freestanding emergency room to have additional questions on the site plan answered. 

The agenda item previously was postponed at the Thursday, April 25, meeting.

At a community meeting in January, HCA Florida Osceola Hospital shared plans to build the ER on the vacant tract to the south of 1200 Daniels Road in the recently developed Daniels Road Business Park.

The $11.5 million project would include a one-story, 11,570-square-foot freestanding emergency room building. The Winter Garden facility would feature 11 emergency exam rooms, CT scan, digital X-ray, ultrasound and on-site laboratory services and would be capable of caring for all ages, including pediatrics.

The existing land use for the 1.56-acre property is vacant land, and the existing zoning is Arterial Commercial District. The ER would require a special-exception permit, which received recent approval from the city’s Planning and Zoning Board.

Planning Director Kelly Carson said the facility would be open 24 hours a day, with walk-in and ambulance accommodations but not overnight care. 

Carson said the conditions of approval include that no helicopters are permitted to land on or near the facility, the facility will provide an on-site ambulance service as to not negatively impact Winter Garden’s emergency services, and no sirens will be permitted during the unloading and loading of patients. 

At the April meeting, Mayor John Rees said he had several questions and concerns, and he would like more time to look at the plans, as well as discuss with local hospitals in the Winter Garden area, such as AdventHealth and Orlando Health — Health Central Hospital. 

Commissioner Colin Sharman agreed.

“I would like to get more information from all of those sources,” he said at the April meeting. “We need to make the best decision for the city.”