Zoning Board of Appeals Set to Review Norwood Hospital Expansion Plans Following Purchase Agreement-August 17, 1979

The state-approved expansion of Norwood Hospital onto the municipal Civic Center site faces its next official regulatory hurdle: a review by the zoning board of appeals. Building Inspector John E. Grover noted that the hospital will require a special permit from the zoning board before construction can proceed on the Civic Center parcel.

Despite the upcoming regulatory step, there is no immediate rush, as the purchase and sale agreement dictates that the town does not need to vacate the Civic Center until mid-1981. Hospital Administrator David P. Buchmueller pointed out that the hospital must formally take title to the property before applying for local permits. Under the terms of the agreement, the hospital takes ownership 90 days after receiving its state certificate of need for the expansion. Buchmueller stated that the hospital’s goal is to finalize the paperwork well within 90 days, at which point the hospital will hand over a check for $1,950,000 to complete the $2 million acquisition. The hospital previously provided a $50,000 down payment two years prior, alongside an additional $25,000 paid to the town for widening East Hoyle Street as incidental work related to closing Winter Street—the thoroughfares bounding the Civic Center site on opposite sides.

Buchmueller explained that the hospital will initially secure a bank loan to fulfill the town purchase before potentially financing both the debt and the first phase of on-site construction through a tax-exempt bond issue. Groundbreaking for the initial $3.5 million construction phase is scheduled for August 23, with completion anticipated by late 1980. This phase—focused primarily in the courtyard and Linden Street area of the existing hospital campus—will include an expanded emergency room, a new day surgery center, and upgraded radiology and nuclear medicine facilities.

Archival Note: This article has been dynamically reconstructed from the original public record print archives of the Patriot Ledger