Batavia hospital plans expanded women’s health site in Medina

smartDesign architecture of Batavia submitted these renderings of the United Memorial Medical Center project, which includes an addition of about 800 square feet as well as a canopy and brick for the front of the façade.

MEDINA – United Memorial Medical Center, which stepped up its obstetrics and gynecological care in Medina in 2011, is working to have an expanded site on Maple Ridge Road.

The Batavia hospital, which is now delivering about 100 babies a year in Batavia to Orleans County women, wants more exam rooms and medical offices to serve its patients in the Medina area.

The hospital wants to do a major renovation and expansion of a former K & K food mart and gas station at 11360 Maple Ridge Rd. UMMC is currently a tenant for Medina Memorial Hospital.

Photos by Tom Rivers – This building at 11360 Maple Ridge Rd., a former K & K gas station and food mart, will be transformed into a healthcare site for United Memorial Medical Center in Batavia.

Medina closed its birthing unit on July 1, 2011. UMMC and Medina Memorial have worked collaboratively the past 2 ½ years on women’s health services.

“They’re in Medina now and they want to stay in Medina,” Todd Audsley, project manager for smartDesign architecture, told the Medina Planning Board. “They need more room for doctors and patients.”

The property is in the process of being acquired by Chad LaCivita, who is buying it from Reid Petroleum. LaCivita will lease the site to UMMC.

Todd Audsley, a project manager with smartDesign architecture in Batavia, discusses the site plan for a health care site in Medina. United Memorial Medical Center wants to better provide its women’s health services in the community. Village Planning Board member Todd Bensley is at left.

Village officials believe the property has a clean bill of environmental health. The previous gas storage tanks have been removed and they didn’t leak, said Marty Busch, village code enforcement officer.

The project will add about 800 square feet to the building, and will change the looks of the property with a brick exterior on the front and wrapping around the front sides.

“It’s a nice-looking building,” Audsley told the planners. “It will be a welcome addition to the streetscape.”

The project needs to go before the Orleans County Planning Board at 7 p.m. on Dec. 19. It also comes back the Village Planning Board for a vote on the site plan on Jan. 7. Residents can comment during a public hearing on the project at 7:05 p.m. on Jan. 7. The hearing will be at City Hall.

Planning Board members tonight asked Audsley to make sure exterior lighting doesn’t spill off onto neighboring properties. Audsley said wall packs will be mounted on the building and the lighting will be projected downward.

The sign on the building won’t be lighted. A monument sign by Route 31A will have a soft glow, he said.

The hospital would like to start work on the project soon after the local board approvals and permits are secured, Audsley said.