Planning commission forwards Winchester Medical master plan despite neighborhood traffic concerns

The Winchester Planning Commission on June 16 voted to forward the Winchester Medical Main and Lakeside master plan (RZ-26-2) to City Council, recommending approval with the applicant’s proffers, after a lengthy public hearing and detailed questions from commissioners about traffic, sidewalks and a proposed parking garage.

The applicant — identified in the hearing as a Valley Health representative — presented updated materials, a traffic assessment and a proffered extension of the Linden Drive sidewalk tied to future Medical Office Building 3 (MOB-3). The representative said the sidewalk extension would be constructed with MOB-3 and that, to preserve street trees, the sidewalk might meander onto Valley Health property via a public-use easement. "If Linden Drive road improvements are constructed by others prior to the construction of the Linden Drive sidewalk extension, the WMC portion of the new sidewalk shall be connected to the Linden Drive sidewalk improvements," the applicant stated when summarizing the proffered language.

Resident John Stacy of 312 Linden Drive, whose comments were entered into the public record, told the commission he supports sidewalks but urged a more conservative traffic analysis for the Linden Drive entrance. "The sidewalk is a much needed and very valuable thing for pedestrian safety in that area," Stacy said, and he warned that the traffic assessment "was based on percentage of the new vehicles…rather than the overall traffic in the campus redistributing to all the potential parking areas." Stacy asked the commission to consider the potential for the garage to attract trips from the larger campus ("some percentage of those will come on to Linden Drive") and described the Linden intersection as "fragile."

In response, the applicant said the submitted study used a conservative assumption — that up to 10% of new peak trips would route to Linden Drive — and emphasized the 2026 plan is more limiting than the 2023 plan because it internalizes circulation and reduces direct garage connections previously shown. The representative also said the proposed garage would not seek a height variance: "We are not requesting any variance on building height, per the zoning district," and that the garage would conform to setback and height rules in the Medical Center district.

Commissioners pressed for clarity on who would use the garage (patients, visitors or staff) and whether the Linden driveway could be limited to emergency/staff access; the applicant said design and operational details remain to be developed, though the proffers limit certain elements and commit to the sidewalk connection. Several commissioners urged stronger proffers to prevent a 30-foot gap in sidewalks and requested that landscaping tie into any future garage to help screen its mass from Linden Drive.

After discussion, a commissioner moved to forward RZ-26-2 to City Council recommending approval subject to the master plan and conditional proffers (dated June 2). The motion was seconded and passed on a roll-call style voice vote; at the roll call in the transcript a named commissioner voted "No" while others voted "Yes" and the motion carried. The record shows substantial reservations about potential localized traffic and the need for clearer commitments on access and landscaping, but no contradictory technical evidence was entered into the record to overturn the applicant's traffic memo.

The matter now goes to Winchester City Council for final action; commissioners said they expect site-level plans, traffic mitigation specifics and landscape commitments to be resolved during the council and subsequent site-plan review phases.