BY PATRICK LAIR
ALBANY DEMOCRAT-HERALD | Posted: Thursday, October 16, 2008 12:00 am
LEBANON - Designers for the proposed medical college in Lebanon got the green light Wednesday from the planning commission to move forward with plans for the campus.
Developers will now work with city staff to make sure the specifics of the design comply with city codes, and they will not need to return to the planning commission for further approval, said Commissioner Don Robertson.
Initial plans call for construction to take place from spring of 2009 through summer of 2011.
The campus would sit on roughly 43 acres, bordered by Highway 20 on the east, N. Fifth Street on the west and Reeves Parkway on the north.
Plans for another 12 acres, just north of Pioneer School, have yet to be approved by the planning commission.
The layout calls for three vehicle access points: on Reeves Parkway; on N. Fifth Street just north of Pioneer School; and at the intersection of Twin Oaks Drive and Second Street. The access points would be connected by internal roads.
An events center would sit near the highway, across from Samaritan Lebanon Community Hospital.
Just north of the center, plans call for a garden, but not a "healing garden," as some have thought. The hospital already has a healing garden for recovering patients, said Dan Boultinghouse of WHPacific, Inc.
Planned are retail and office buildings along Reeves Parkway. College buildings would occupy the central and southern portions of the property.
Most of the buildings would be two-story, with brick exteriors and pitched roofs. There will also be a 61-foot clock tower and 1,533 parking spaces.
To see a drawing of the proposed campus, visit the city's website at www.ci.lebanon.or.us.