Planning commission approves street abandonments so Hendrick Medical Center can expand parking

The Abilene Planning and Zoning Commission on an unspecified date approved a request by Hendrick Medical Center to abandon portions of North 20 First Street and Hickory Street so the hospital can use the adjacent land for parking, the city planner said.

City planner Adam Holland told the commission the request covers rights-of-way in the 1300–1400 blocks of North 20 First Street and Hickory Street, extending 420 feet south of the North 20 First and Hickory intersection. He said the property immediately south has recently been rezoned for medical use and that much of the area to the east is zoned general commercial. “This is a request to abandon certain portions of North 20 First Street and Hickory Street,” Holland said. He added that staff sent notifications within 200 feet of the subject area and received no responses in favor or opposed.

Staff recommended approval subject to conditions, including: plotting the abandoned right-of-way to city standards; granting or relocating easements for existing utilities at the owner’s expense; public improvements meeting City of Abilene design standards; a revised drainage plan submitted to Public Works; an island maintenance agreement; and fire marshal approval for emergency vehicle access.

Timothy Schmidt, facility director for Hendrick in the Abilene market, spoke in favor and said the area is a heavy pedestrian corridor at shift changes and that hospital employees and patients have experienced near misses on Hickory Street. “The vision for this is that it becomes unified parking both for staff and visitors to the hospital,” Schmidt said. He described plans to re-route some ambulance and service traffic and said that the hospital will retain emergency access and not develop in a way that would prevent fire access.

After public comment closed, a motion to approve the abandonment with conditions passed. Commissioners called yes votes during roll call; the motion carried.

The approval includes the staff conditions; the city will require the applicant to provide the required easements, drainage plan and other technical documentation before final platting or development of the vacated right-of-way.

Minutes from the meeting show the commission considered the item during the meeting and voted to approve the request with the conditions described above. No letters of support or opposition were reported in the staff notification summary.