An Ochsner Health plan to build a new children’s hospital on Jefferson Highway has undergone sweeping changes following months of pushback from surrounding neighbors about potential traffic and drainage issues.
Those changes, presented Wednesday evening at the fifth neighborhood meeting organized by Ochsner, include nixing a proposal to move the hospital’s Brent House Hotel into the development area and instead creating greenspace and a pocket park for public use.
The new plan would also move and lengthen an existing culvert and add underground water storage to hold up to roughly 400,000 gallons of rainwater before funneling it into the parish’s drainage system, which Ochsner officials say will reduce street flooding in surrounding areas during storms.
Ochsner’s 343,000-square-foot Gayle and Tom Benson Ochsner Children’s Hospital will be built along Betz Avenue between Jefferson Highway and River Road, with the entrance facing Jefferson Highway next to the main Ochsner hospital.
The children’s hospital will have a five-story parking garage behind it, and greenspace stretching back to River Road. Ochsner also plans to build sidewalks along Deckbar Avenue and a walkway to the levee for public use.
To build the pediatric facility, Ochsner will have to demolish an existing parking lot and collection of hospital-owned homes along Betz Avenue. Parish Council member Deano Bonano, who represents the area, said the hospital has agreed to stop purchasing single-family residential properties in the neighborhood.
“I’ve gone to them and said, ‘Listen, the only way I’m going to consider any of this is if you guys make some significant concessions,” Bonano said.
A rendering of the?Gayle and Tom Benson Ochsner Children’s Hospital?from River Road.
A traffic plan for the new site, approved by DOTD, will involve expanding Deckbar Avenue and adding new turning lanes at the intersection of Deckbar and Jefferson Highway.
Ochsner also plans to replace six trees that will be removed during construction with trees one foot in diameter and at least 20 feet high.
The Jefferson Parish Planning Advisory Board will vote to recommend approval or denial of Ochsner’s plan at its Sept. 19 meeting, but the Parish Council will have the final say.
The council will likely take up the issue at its meeting on Oct. 16. If approved, construction is slated to begin in 2025 and be completed in 2027.
Residents at Wednesday's meeting, which lasted over two hours, remained skeptical of Ochsner’s ability to reduce drainage and traffic problems and said they worry about future development of the proposed greenspace.
“Ochsner constantly told us they were not going to encroach in residential neighborhoods, and now they are going to take more,” said Lisa Loup, a member of the Suburban Terrace Civic Association. “It’s got to stop.”
Standalone children's hospital
The new standalone children’s hospital was announced last December and is being funded by a large donation from Saints and Pelicans owner Gayle Benson. It will allow for specialty pediatric services like a larger emergency room, enhanced operating rooms and a cardiac critical care unit.
While Ochsner already houses a children’s hospital inside its main hospital, it doesn't have the capacity to accept all patients and has to separate children from adult patients, said Butch Adolph, chief medical officer for the children’s hospital.
Adolph has said the hospital can't accommodate a third of the patients that request to be transferred to there.
“A lot of the care we provide is highly complex for really sick patients, so we want to be able to provide that in an environment that for the family and the patients is as friendly and as good as the quality of care,” Adolph said.
Ochsner officials said the proposed site was selected to more easily connect to the main power system and utility plant, allowing them to continue providing service during major storm events. Most of the site is already zoned for hospital use, apart from the residences that are already owned by the hospital.
“It's been over a year of us going through uncertainty, delays, and we’ve been making these investments,” Emily Arata, Ochsner's system vice president of community affairs, told a packed auditorium. “Why would we do that unless there was a compelling reason based on patient care?”