Hurdles cleared? WellStar is a step closer to building East Cobb Health Park

This architectural rendering, provided by WellStar Health System, shows one option officials are considering for the proposed WellStar East Cobb Health Park, to be located on Roswell and Providence roads in east Cobb. Renderings special to the MDJ

WellStar Health System won the second, and possibly the final, fight against the appeals of Northside Hospital to include an ambulatory surgery center in the proposed 205,000 square-foot, $80 million WellStar East Cobb Health Park.

WellStar spokesman Keith Bowermaster said David A. Cook, commissioner of Georgia Department of Community Health, made a ruling called a Final Administrative Decision on Wednesday in favor of WellStar. With the decision, Northside’s second appeal was denied and DCH reaffirmed its previous decision to grant WellStar a certificate of need, which WellStar needed in order to include a surgical center in the future health park at 3624 Providence Road at the corner of Providence and Roswell roads in east Cobb.

Bowermaster said Northside officials could now go through the legal system if they choose to appeal the Final Administrative Decision, but no more appeals can be made through the DCH. Northside has 30 days from Wednesday to file a petition for judicial review through the Superior Court of Fulton County, but Bowermaster said as of Friday, WellStar officials had not received notice that Northside had filed a petition in the court system.

“We just learned of this decision and do not have a specific comment at this time,” Northside spokesman Russ Davis said. Davis also would not say if the system planned to file the petition.

“This is a project that the residents of east Cobb have wanted,” Bowermaster said. “We’ve surveyed them, and we’ve been working with residents immediately surrounding the area to construct and build a health park that they will be proud of and utilize. …WellStar Health System is thrilled to have received this Final Administrative Decision and looks forward to breaking ground on the WellStar East Cobb Health Park later this spring.”

WellStar’s battle for the CON dates back to May 2010, when WellStar first submitted its request to the DCH for the CON. The DCH approved the CON in September 2010, but less than a month later, on Oct. 19, 2010, Northside appealed the DCH’s decision. Nearly a year passed before the hearing for that appeal took place on Aug. 8 through Aug. 11. On Oct. 20, 2011, almost a year to the date that Northside filed its first appeal, the state rendered its decision and denied the appeal. On Nov. 18, Northside appealed that decision again, and on Wednesday, Cook reaffirmed the previous decisions and WellStar’s CON remains approved.

WellStar could have built the health park without the surgery center and its necessary CON, and Bowermaster said WellStar planned to do so if the CON was not granted. At this point, however, the CON has been approved three times and Bowermaster said WellStar plans to breaks ground on the facility — including the surgery center — in late spring.

Bowermaster said the 205,000-square-foot building would sit on 23 acres and hold four floors of medical space, one of which will be underground, and approximately 950 parking spaces. To put that size in perspective, the health park will be about 60,000 square feet larger than a typical Home Depot store and about 50,000 square feet smaller than a typical Walmart Supercenter. It will also be about three times bigger than the three-story, 70,000-square-foot Acworth Health Park that WellStar Health System officials broke ground on Oct. 17, 2011.

The ambulatory surgery center will be about 20,000 square feet — or 10 percent — of the facility.

The attorneys for the appeals process include Armando Bassaratte of Atlanta law firm Parker, Hudson, Rainer & Dobbs, representing WellStar; Kathy Butler Polvino and Robert M. Rozier of Atlanta law firm McKenna Long & Aldridge, representing Northside; and Alex Sponseller, representing the DCH.

(Reprinted from the MDJ, January 22, 2012. Written by Katy Ruth Camp.) 

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