UMMC project gets OK from Medina Planning Board

Courtesy of smartDESIGN architecture PLLC – United Memorial Medical Center in Batavia is proposing to tear down the former Pizza Hut in Medina and construct a 4,300-square-foot building on Maple Ridge Road.

MEDINA – The Village of Medina Planning Board tonight approved the site plan for a new women’s healthcare site on Maple Ridge Road, a project that will tear down the former Pizza Hut and replace it with a new 4,300-square-foot building.

Construction could start between March 15 to April 1, Todd Audsley, project manager for smartDesign architecture in Batavia, told village Planning Board members.

“The hospital and the building owner want to get rolling,” Audsley said at the meeting.

United Memorial Medical Center in Batavia will be the tenant at the site with developer Chad La Civita of Buffalo the owner of the site. The new building will be next to McDonalds.

The Batavia hospital has been providing women’s health services at 100 Ohio St., space owned by Medina Memorial Hospital. Medina closed its birthing wing in July 2011. UMMC now delivers more than 100 babies a year to Orleans County women.

The site at 100 Ohio St. is cramped for space, said Colleen Flynn, UMMC’s director of community relations. The new site will have more space for doctors, patients and staff. UMMC provides obstetrics, gynecological care and other health services. The project includes 28 parking spaces.

The new building will be close to the eastern side of the property. Pizza Hut was in the middle of the property.

The village code requires a 20-foot side setback for the parking area. UMMC is proposing a 12-foot side setback. The project will go before the village Zoning Board of Appeals on Wednesday.

The building is planned to have a dark blue metal roof.  The more prominent exterior sides of the building will be brick, while the eastern and northern sides are a split-faced block. Those walls will have varied colors and textures.

The Planning Board would like to see colors for the bricks and blocks before construction begins. The board also wants to know if there will be a pylon sign or a monument sign in front. The board didn’t want to hold up the project and gave conditional approval.

UMMC and La Civita were eyeing the former K & K site owned by Reid Petroleum for the project. But environmental tests showed some concerns with that property, prompting them to look at the former Pizza Hut.

Planning Board members said the Pizza Hut site is a better fit for the health care site.

“It will be a nice addition,” Planning Board Chairman Chris Busch said.