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Bronxville Board Expected to Vote on Hospital

BRONXVILLE, N.Y. – The proposed three-story addition at Lawrence Hospital took two steps forward this week.

Members of the Bronxville Planning Board announced on Wednesday that they will take a vote on the proposal at their first meeting of the new year on January 11.

The move comes after Lawrence Hospital officials offered to create a memo that will summarize the project in its current form.

"There have been many changes over the nine months," commented Helen Levitz, an Alger Court resident who has been a vocal opponent against the location of the addition. "A document like this will at least organize and clarify the whole project."

Levitz and other residents of Alger Court, who live across a narrow street from the proposed location of the addition, have repeatedly said they are worried about things like how much noise rooftop equipment will bring into their homes

"I oppose the entire project," said Alger Court resident Jim Fay. "The traffic, the noise and the fact that so few residents of the Town of Eastchester use the hospital makes me feel that it is not necessary."

At issue is a proposed 39,000-square-foot , three-story addition that will be placed on the northeast corner of the hospital, which is located on a three-acre site. The $34.4 million dollar project will add seven new jobs to the hospital and will not add any new entrances or exits to the campus.

The building will host a radiation therapy center in the basement, and a medical oncology infusion center on the first floor, both treatments for cancer.

On the third floor of the new addition there will be six new, state-of-the-art operating rooms.

The new operating rooms will replace the existing operating rooms, which are functional but outdated. Hospital officials said the current operating rooms were built in the 1950s and work well but are below today's standards, especially when it comes to size.

Although some residents may not support the proposed addition, the hospital announced that the Public Health and Health Planning Council of New York State unanimously approved the three-story expansion earlier this week.

"The project allows us to develop a fully integrated and comprehensive center that is focused on the patient," said hospital President and CEO Edward Dinan. "The new operating rooms are critically necessary for today's high technology surgeries, and retain and attract the high quality surgeons who practice at Lawrence."

If the Planning Board does grant approval at the January meeting, the proposal must next appear before the Zoning Board of Appeals, which will consider granting variances from village zoning laws before the hospital can start building its addition.

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