Orlando Health plans to build the 30-bed Wildwood Micro Hospital on the west side of U.S. 301 about a mile south of the Florida Turnpike.
Special Magistrate Lindsay C.T. Holt recommended approval of a comprehensive plan amendment and rezoning from industrial to commercial for the proposed hospital site at a meeting Tuesday of the Wildwood Planning and Zoning Board. The City Commission likely will consider both recommendations later this month.
The project, which includes commercial development, also will require approval of a Special Exception Permit to allow a hospital on land with commercial (C-3) zoning.
Plans call for building the micro hospital in two phases. The first phase of 33,000 square foot would include eight beds, treatment rooms and labs. The second 37,000-square-foot phase would add 22 beds.
Development will be focused on the eastern end of the property and plans include commercial buildings and offices.
The 44-acre property is near the western end of Marsh Bend Trail and the Village of DeLuna.
City water is available from a line running along U.S. 301, but wastewater service is not available. The city plans an extension in the future.
More than eight acres of the site are wetlands and Holt said a gopher tortoise survey would be needed.
Wastewater capacity and development agreements also are required.
Micro hospitals are a relatively new trend in the health care industry and have been established in Colorado, Nevada, Texas and Arizona.
They are small-scale inpatient facilities offering an array of medical services where patients can be admitted for observation or short stays.
Nutux Health of Houston, Texas, announced last year that it was building a micro hospital in Clermont. The company also has proposed micro hospitals in Jacksonville, Odessa and Miami.
