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Council approves precise plan for new Loma Linda University rehabilitation hospital
Summary
The Loma Linda City Council approved a precise‑plan application for an approximately 99,000‑square‑foot, 80‑bed rehabilitation hospital proposed by PMB LLC for Loma Linda University and LifePoint Health, finding the project consistent with the city’s General Plan EIR and exempt under CEQA Guideline 15183.
The Loma Linda City Council voted to approve the precise plan of design for a new rehabilitation hospital proposed by PMB LLC on behalf of Loma Linda University and LifePoint Health.
City planning staff presented the project as a three‑story, roughly 99,000‑square‑foot facility on a 6.1‑acre vacant parcel at the southeast corner of New Jersey Street and Orange Avenue. Gabriel Rivera of the Community Development Department said the proposal includes about 160 parking spaces — 128 standard, 26 ADA, and six ADA‑van spaces — exceeding the municipal code requirement by 40 spaces. The plan sets the hospital centrally on the site with perimeter parking, a patient courtyard and a design palette intended to match nearby university medical facilities.
The application (PPD‑20250013) anticipates 80 inpatient beds and specialized brain‑injury rehabilitation space on the third floor. Rivera told the council the project was reviewed by the city’s administrative review committee and determined to be in conformance with the institutional health‑care zoning district and existing development standards. He said staff concluded the project is consistent with the city’s general‑plan environmental impact report and is eligible for a CEQA 15183 consistency exemption because impacts were previously analyzed in the EIR.
Applicant Nolan Weinberg said construction is planned to begin in August with an approximately two‑year schedule and target patient intake in late 2028; he confirmed Layton Construction as the selected contractor. Eric Shell of Loma Linda University Health said the new facility would allow the university to convert some existing rehabilitation beds into medical inpatient beds, increasing medicine‑bed capacity.
The planning commission had earlier approved the project with requests that the applicant provide interpretive signage for the Zaha Trail, a pedestrian connection from the facility to the trail subject to staff satisfaction, and removal of proposed fencing along the trail buffer; staff reported the applicant addressed those items in revised landscape plans.
After brief council questions on timeline, contractor selection and traffic management, the mayor opened and closed the public hearing with no speakers at the mic. The council then moved and adopted findings that the project is exempt from additional environmental review under CEQA Guideline 15183 and approved PPD‑2025‑0013 subject to the conditions in the staff report and the planning commission requests.
The council vote carried and the project will proceed under the attached conditions of approval. The city advised that the facility will also require review and certification by the California Department of Health Care Access and Information (HCAI) for building and life‑safety compliance.
