Monday night, the Waterford Planning and Zoning Commission unanimously approved a plan by Lawrence + Memorial Hospital Hospital to
L+M Hospital will team with the Boston-based Dana-Farber Cancer Center to build a 45,000 square foot, $34.8 million cancer center off of Parkway South. It is a "unique opportunity" to team with Dana-Farber and will serve a major need in the area, according to lawyer John Chase, who represented L+M.
"This is really bringing a world-class facility in our backyard,” said Chase, who said 57 percent of cancer patients in southeastern Connecticut have to leave the area for treatment. “And this will attract patients, instead of having them go away.”
Both of the town’s land use boards have now approved the plan, with the Conservation Commission approving the plan last week.
The Center
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In February of 2011, L+M Hospital bought The 100-acre property has frontage on Parkway South as well, and the address has since changed to 230 Waterford Parkway South.
The hospital originally submitted plans for the building in September. According to plans submitted to the town, the center will not have rooms for overnight patients and will hold both medical and professional offices.
Plans show there will be three entrances to the two-story center, two for patients and a third for employees. The overall development will take up 18 acres of the 100-acre property, according to plans.
The hospital will extend a sewer and water line more than 3,000 feet from Boston Post Road to accommodate the facility. The property will have 190 parking spots, according to building plans.
According to a traffic study by DLS Traffic, the property handles the increased traffic flow perfectly. With direct access to I-95, most of the traffic will not run through town, according to the study.
“The proposed Lawrence + Memorial Hospital West Campus development has excellent local and regional access,” wrote David Spear, who authored the study. “A limited access highway interchange is available in the vicinity of the site. Efficient traffic operations in the area will be maintained after completion of the proposed development.”
, who was hired to manage the project, work will begin on the cancer center in the spring of 2012, with its opening scheduled for 2013.
About Dana Farber
Dana-Farber Caner Institute, which is based in Boston, was founded in 1947. The center has a close affiliation with the Harvard Medical School.
Dana-Farber had a budget of more than $890 million for the 2009-10 fiscal year and employs more than 3,600 people, according to the charitynavigator.org. The cancer center was ranked the fifth-best cancer hospital in the United States in a 2012 survey by U.S. News & World Report.
