ROCK SPRINGS – While residents did not make comments about proposed changes to the parking standards for hospitals and medical office buildings at the last Rock Springs Council Meeting, there was a lot of discussion from the council on behalf of the public.

The proposed changes to the ordinance will go through second reading at the Tuesday night council meeting. The council will vote on the proposed changes after the third reading which will take place at the first meeting in November.

The proposed chances would keep medical, dental, health clinic or medical center hospital (hospital being the key word) at 1.5 spaces per 1,000 square feet of floor area. However, the proposal will give the Planning and Zoning Commission the ability to grant a reduction of up to a maximum of 30 percent of the off-street parking spaces required, after calculating the 10 percent floor area reduction. To do this, the applicant must be able to demonstrated that the unusual character of the use or design of the building lowers the anticipated need for off-street parking.

The second proposed change deals with medical and dental office buildings. Office being the key word on this one. Currently, the ordinance states they must have five spaces per 1,000 square feet. The proposed change would lower this to 3.6 spaces per 1,000 square feet of floor area.

History of the medical, dental, etc. HOSPITAL parking standard

This standard was created in late 2013 in response to the realization that no dedicated hospital parking standard existed within the ordinance. This gap in the ordinance was discovered during the site plan review process of Aspen Mountain Medical Center. The originally proposed standard was to be 3 spaces per 1,000 sf of floor area, calculated with the standard 10 percent floor area reduction. However, the standard that was ultimately approved by the Planning and Zoning Commission was 1.5 parking spaces per 1,000 sf of floor area, again,calculated with the standard 10 percent floor area reduction.

History of the medical and dental OFFICE parking standard

This standard has existed within the Zoning Ordinance since January 2011 when it was created in order to simplify the existing standard during the Planning Department’s annual ordinance update. The method of parking calculation was changed from being based on the number of doctors/dentists and employees to a simpler calculation based solely on floor area. This change was prompted by developers inability to predict the number of doctors/dentists and employees that a proposed Medical Office Building would ultimately house.

Discussion at last council meeting

The proposal came from Memorial Hospital of Sweetwater County as they have been investigating more expansion, including a ambulatory surgery center. With the current parking standards, MHSC would have to provide just under 1,000 parking spaces.

The Rock Springs Planning and Zoning tabled the request so a parking study could be done to see if a change to the standard could be justified. After two months, Planning and Zoning did approve the change, sending it to council.

At the past city council meeting, the proposed change went through first reading as well as as a public hearing. During the public hearing, Charlie Van Over of Plan One Architects representing Memorial Hospital of Sweetwater County spoke to the council.

He said the proposed ordinance is a very fair compromise to the parking standard and offers a manageable level for the hospital. Van Over added the hospital conducted a study and logged the amount of vehicles in the parking lot every day for over 30 days. The study showed there were an average of 274 vehicles in the lot at 10 a.m. every day which left plenty of empty spaces for more vehicles.

Van Over explained the reason they have asked for the change is not so much for the possible expansion, but because of the way the hospital is built. He said there are two long hallways which travel the entire length of the hospital. According to the way the current ordinance is written, MHSC has to have 59 parking spaces just for the hallways.

While there were no public comments during the hearing, Rock Springs Mayor Carl Demshar said almost every city council member had received calls from constituents who voiced concern on this change.

Demshar said he also had a lot of issues with the change. First, he said there is already a deficit of 41 spaces from the last addition. The mayor added that when the school district came to them asking for a reduction in parking, the city refused that request because they felt it was important to have more than necessary rather than not enough. Finally, Demshar said most of the calls the council and city received voiced concerns with the parking study, saying they often go to the hospital and cannot find a place to park. He said he worried that, by approving this, other government agencies and businesses would also request changes to parking standards.

Councilman Rob Zotti questioned why the parking study  was done at 10 a.m. Van Over told the council that is when the peak time of traffic for the hospital is with visiting hours and same-day surgery.

Rock Springs Assistant City Planner Brian Heaton spoke to the council about the process the request has gone through. He said the hospital standard is where it should be. The medical office standard was on the high side, so staff was willing to lower it. Heaton added staff’s original alternate proposal didn’t get traction with the Planning and Zoning Commission, so staff took that as an indication to lower the standard more.

Residents can still make comments on the issue by contacting the city or speaking to the council on Tuesday night during the public comment portion of the meeting.