Planning commission recommends AdventHealth Crystal Valley site plan, 5-0

The Castle Rock Planning Commission voted 5-0 on Aug. 14 to recommend approval of the AdventHealth site development plan for a 24,535-square-foot medical office building with a freestanding emergency department and send the proposal to Town Council.

Town staff told commissioners the site, located west of the Plum Creek Boulevard and Crystal Valley Parkway intersection, is zoned Planned Development under the Lanters Amendment No. 4 planned development plan and zoning regulations, which allow medical facilities as a permitted use. Staff recommended the commission forward the proposal to Town Council with a finding that the plan meets the Town’s municipal code criteria for a site development plan.

Brianna Grandy, representing town planning staff, said the project includes an ambulance entrance positioned on the west side of the building to screen activity from adjacent residences, non-illuminated signage on the north and east elevations facing homes, and landscaping installed at larger-than-required sizes to provide an immediate buffer. Grandy said the application met residential/nonresidential interface regulations and had been the subject of three neighborhood meetings.

Michelle Fuentes, chief executive officer of AdventHealth Castle Rock, presented the applicant’s plans and said the building’s first floor will house urgent care and an emergency department while the second floor will provide primary-care office space. Fuentes said the second floor is planned initially for four to five primary-care physicians and is designed to expand to as many as 10 over time. She said the emergency department will operate 24/7, 365 days a year, and that the project is expected to create about 40 jobs.

Staff described other project details included in the application: a surface parking lot that meets the town’s parking standards (Grandy cited a parking ratio of about four spaces per 1,000 square feet), a traffic study that staff said was completed and approved by the town and found no mitigation was required, and a proposed building height of about 30–32 feet. Fuentes said parking-lot lighting will use auto-dimming or motion-activated fixtures and that the applicant removed internally illuminated signs on elevations that face residences.

Vice Chair McHugh moved and Commissioner Martinez seconded a motion to recommend approval of the AdventHealth site development plan to Town Council. The commission approved the recommendation 5-0 (Ayes: Commissioner Martinez; Commissioner Salinas; Commissioner Stolin; Vice Chair McHugh; Chair Wernke). Town Council will consider the item at its meeting scheduled for Tuesday, Sept. 2.

The application and staff report filed with the commission include the site plan, elevations, the traffic-study summary and a record of the neighborhood meetings; those materials are part of the public record for the Town Council hearing.