Wastewater issues are complicating Orlando Health’s plan to build a micro hospital on the west side of U.S. 301 about a mile south of the Florida Turnpike.
Wildwood Special Magistrate Lindsay C.T. Holt put consideration of a Special Exception Permit for the project on hold at a meeting Tuesday of the Wildwood Planning and Zoning Board.
Holt said she was “inclined to deny” the permit, but granted a continuance until November at the request of Gregory Love, representing the developer. The permit does not require City Commission approval.
Wendy Then, assistant development services director, told Holt that the permit would expire in a year, likely before the project could connect to city sewers.
Wildwood commissioners approved a comprehensive plan amendment and commercial zoning for the project on Sept. 9, but the special exception is needed to allow a hospital in that zoning.
A force main extension is expected for the One Hundred Oaks project south of the micro hospital, but Then said it could be year before the extension is completed.
Approved last fall, One Hundred Oaks is expected to include 407 homes on 119 acres.
Love said the micro hospital could be completed within a year and that wastewater issues can be addressed at the site plan stage. He said the project cannot begin without the Special Exception Permit.
The 30-bed Wildwood Micro Hospital would be built in two phases. The first phase of 33,000 square feet would include eight beds, treatment rooms and labs. The second 37,000-square-foot phase would add 22 beds.
Micro hospitals, a relatively new trend in the health care industry, are small-scale inpatient facilities offering a variety of medical services where patients can be admitted for short stays.
