Sutter Hospital Proposal

Sutter’s hospital needs to fit Emeryville.
Emeryville won’t change our values to fit Sutter.

It would be great to have a new modern hospital in our city. That said, Sutter’s proposals and revisions have not done a good job planning a sensible way to make that happen. If we can’t get them to come to the table with a mutually beneficial plan, I won’t support it.

Some reference links:

Sutter Hospital Medical Center (City of Emeryville)
Site Updates: Sutter Emeryville Campus (Sutter)
Brandon Soublet’s Resources Page

Disclaimer: This is an ever-evolving proposal that affects a lot of Emeryville residents. I’m actively seeking out input from voices all over our city to educate myself. I will likely change my mind on a few points here as new info arrives, but I hope my intentions can come through.

No Tax Revenue for the City

I think the biggest misconception about this proposal is that Emeryville will somehow reap tax revenue from it. Sutter has made no such offer or acceptance so far.

This isn’t necessarily a dealbreaker for me, if they do more for the city in other ways by being good neighbors and contributors considering their scale and impact.

New Jobs?

Sutter claims they’ll be creating tons of new jobs, but will they really be new? Much of the staff from the existing hospital in Berkeley likely won’t quit because their commute is different by 10 minutes. They’re similarly unlikely to relocate their homes to make this career adjustment. So let’s look at these job creation claims with a grain of salt.

Noise, Building Size, Disruption

I agree with many of the objections local neighbors have spoken up at town halls and study sessions regarding how much such a project would disrupt our daily lives. Let’s unpack some of those objections.

A Quiet Neighborhood

Let’s talk about why this neighborhood is currently quiet. The site where the hospital is hoping to go is a nearly-empty biotech campus. Homes in the area enjoy the benefit of … a dead industrial block. But if we put in the effort to find compromises and regulations with those residents’ needs in mind the entire region could benefit as much or more from what we build in that currently dead space.

We can find ways to take this project from a corporation bullying one neighborhood into a bad deal to that community having a strong voice in what they get from that deal. The rest of the city and those neighbors need to work together to find that compromise and unite — either against or in collaboration with Sutter.

Helicopters

While it’s probably obvious why a hospital would make good use of helicopters in its life-saving operations, Emeryville could seek to encourage them to limit the use of helicopters to only the most time-sensitive critical occasions.

I’d also be open to any measure we could take that wouldn’t interfere in saving people’s lives, but pays back our city for the disruption it causes. For example, a fee charged for each helicopter take-off or landing during quiet hours that goes toward funding parks, subsidizing noise reduction improvements to those homes, or other improvements near the noise center. We could also require Sutter to establish and/or maintain park structures, tree planting, and other initiatives that reduce the noise.

Distance and the placement of barriers between the helicopter’s flight operations and neighbors can be another effective means of controlling unreasonable noise. In its “Noise Management in Mixed-Use Urban Environments,” the New Zealand Planning Institute recommends close consideration of the helipad’s location, orientation and design; the specification of helicopters that comply with lower noise levels; planning arrival and departure routes as far away as possible from noise sensitive neighborhoods; and employing barriers such as solid walls, fences, insulation, double-glazed windows or even hills, depressions or berms to control or reduce noise. Unfortunately, when close to helipads some noise barriers can create a collision potential. The effects of reflected sound need to be considered within the design and orientation of barriers as well as the location of the helipad itself.
Managing Helicopter Noise Key to Keeping Access to Urban Areas

Building Height

Having the helicopter landing pad higher above ground reduces the noise it creates for people on or near street level, so the height of the building benefits us in this way too.

A taller building also greatly improves its tax revenue per acre ratio, which is is an incredibly important consideration for managing infrastructure costs, cost efficiency, and environmental impact.

This video may not be totally on-topic but it talks about the concept of urban density being more efficient and cheaper in ways relevant to my point here.

While it will likely shade many areas that currently enjoy more direct sunlight, I don’t believe shortening the building would be a better solution with any fewer sacrifices. We’d need a bigger footprint with more helicopter noise that’s more expensive to build and maintain, and/or a far less effective hospital entirely.

Also read:

Agreement reached in debate over Seattle Children’s emergency helicopter landings (Seattle area)
NASA Report on How Helicopter Noise Works (if you really want to geek out)

Traffic

up to 20,000 additional daily vehicle trips

That’s the number being tossed around in meetings so far, and it’s massive.

We can find creative solutions to incentivize and empower people coming to the hospital for non-emergency services (hopefully this is the bulk of that traffic) if we do a really good job integrating and upgrading public transit.

Local Transit

Sutter wants a shuttle system, but Emeryville already has the best in the Bay: The Emery-Go-Round! Instead of creating a new private system that competes with our own local buses, I want Sutter to commit to building and ongoing support of an upgraded Emery-Go-Round route that makes sense with the neighborhood they want their shuttle stop to be in. Perhaps even including an opposite-direction iteration of the existing loop. It would have to remain free to ride, of course.

Housing

I want Sutter to include employee housing in their plan, and for that housing to make sense with our walkable, bikeable city.

Access to affordable housing is a critical social determinant of health, and a person’s access to housing can affect — and is affected by — mental health. Experiencing housing instability may contribute to stress, anxiety or other mental health symptoms. The symptoms of a serious mental health condition can also lead to housing instability. Moreover, it’s well-documented that people with mental illness experience housing discrimination throughout the rental process.
Social Determinants of Health: Housing (NAMI)

I’d expect Sutter to recognize this obvious truth and contribute to supporting our unhoused population and providing them services and/or financial support of local affordable housing programs. We should all be aligned on improving health outcomes for all Emeryville residents.

Parking

Sutter expects a parking deficit, planning to shuttle 30% of their staff in from off-site.

I don’t mind the parking deficit. In fact I think it’s perfectly in line with Emeryville values to encourage alternative methods of transportation. We can reduce that number even further if they build employee housing even closer.

Don’t Forget Aesthetics

I’d also like to add a requirement that the building isn’t ugly af. If they’re building our biggest building that we hope to last for the foreseeable future, I better not hate looking at it everyday.

Concept art for the proposed Sutter Hospital in Emeryville. Provided by Sutter.

This is the concept image Sutter uses on their proposal site, but I’ll want us to consider the space around it more too. The parks, biking routes, and noise reduction infrastructure we hope to see. All of it has to fit Emeryville.