Residents oppose hospital's plan to cut trees to expand ER, parking space

A proposal to expand Mather Hospital in Port Jefferson is facing opposition from some village residents over concerns that trees will be cut down for additional parking.

The hospital, part of the Northwell Health network, wants to nearly double the size of its 30-year-old emergency department, from 13,500 square feet to 26,000 square feet, and expand parking by 163 spaces, executive director Kevin McGeachy said Friday in an email.

He said the $78.7 million project is needed to update the hospital and meet future needs.

"Especially in a pandemic era, we must ensure our infrastructure stays at the forefront of health care innovation and modernization," McGeachy told Newsday. "This expansion allows us to continue to serve our community at the top-tier level it deserves."

The hospital is seeking site plan and building approvals from the village. A planning board public hearing is scheduled for 6 p.m. Thursday at Port Jefferson Village Hall.

McGeachy said the hospital hopes to begin construction in June and complete the addition in two years.

Opposition to the plan focuses less on the building expansion than the proposal to clear trees to make room for new parking. Besides losing trees, a larger parking surface would worsen the village's existing flooding problems, opponents say.

“There’s a huge environmental factor, which is that area has huge floods, anyway," said Amal Karzai, a Port Jefferson resident. “We’ll have more storm runoff. ... Once we pave over everything, there is no land, so water can’t be absorbed.”

Some residents say they would prefer a parking garage because it would take less space than a parking lot.

“Instead of going up without having to cut more land, they are just going wide," village resident Ana Hozyainova said.

Karzai said, “There are all sorts of things we could do that are interesting and smart and clean.”

McGeachy said Mather would not consider a parking garage. He said the new parking area would replace a parking field that would be lost because of the building expansion, adding part of the new lot would be built on a temporary parking area that had been added in recent years.

The hospital plans to build an "extensive stormwater management system and an expanded recharge basin which would contain all stormwater runoff from the project site," he said.

Mayor Margot J. Garant said in an email said the village "fully supports" the Mather plan, adding that Mather plans to plant "well over" 110 new trees to replace those that would be cut down. She said the proposal "addresses a lot of on-site drainage issues" that had been neglected for years.

"We are pleased with these results and believe Mather/Northwell provides vital services to this community and has been a great partner to this village," Garant said.

By Carl MacGowan

carl.macgowan@newsday.comCarlMacGowan

Carl MacGowan is a Long Island native who covers Brookhaven Town after having previously covered Smithtown, Suffolk County courts and numerous spot news and feature stories over his 20-plus year career at Newsday.