At one parking space per 150 square feet of gross floor area, Lakewood Township's off-street parking space requirement for medical and dental office space is greater than most other uses permitted in Lakewood's various zoning districts.
Retail trade or personal service establishments, other than in a shopping center of 100,000 square feet or more require one space for each 200 square feet of gross floor area, shopping centers of 100,000 square feet or more require one space for each 225 square feet of gross floor area, and business and professional offices and banks, other than medical or dental require one space for each 250 square feet of gross floor area.
At one space per 150 square feet of gross floor area, a medical or dental office building with 24,850 sq feet of gross floor area would require 166 off-street parking spaces.
Unless, that is, if the medical office is a Community Based Health Care Facility, because the Township has a special ordinance which requires only one and one-quarter spaces for every examination room in Community Based Health Care Facilities.
Lakewood has two Community Based Health Care Facilities which provide pediatric services, OHI and CHEMED. OHI is located in the Downtown B-2 zone which does not require off-street parking for the first two stories. Therefore, the Township's Community Based Health Care Facilities reduced parking requirement was specifically carved out for CHEMED.
On June 23, 2020, CHEMED presented a Site Plan application to the Lakewood Township Planning Board for their new South campus at 1171 River Avenue, adjacent to Super Stop.
Their architectural plans depict a pharmacy, 30 examination rooms for Adult Medicine, Pediatrics, Women’s Health and Dental Care, and 3 waiting rooms with 27 seats each on the main floor, and a partially-completed basement with 10 offices and a conference room.
The main floor and basement each have a gross floor area of 12,425 sq feet, for a total of 24,850 sq feet. At one parking space per 150 sq feet of gross floor area, if this were considered as every other medical or dental office building in Lakewood, they would have required 166 parking spaces. However, under the Township's specially designed "Community Based Health Care Facilities" ordinance, this Site Plan only required 37 parking spaces for the 30 examination rooms. The offices and conference center could have been deemed accessory rooms that do not require separate parking as the ordinance only specifies a parking requirement for "examination room". Luckily, CHEMED is going above and beyond by providing a grand 53 parking spaces, including 3 ADA spot. They did not provide a specific loading/unloading area.
Additionally, CHEMED provided to the Planning Board a statement of operations that noted that although they have more parking then required by township ordinances, they are aware of parking constraints in Lakewood and they therefore plan on implementing a parking study every 6 months during the use of this site, and, should the need for more parking arise, they are prepared to implement strategies such as:
• Staging openings of departments and services to better monitor and evaluate any parking issues
• Scheduling visits and staggered appointments to aid with traffic flow with the least possible interference to anyone
• Shuttle services [It therefore raises an eyebrow as to why a loading area was not included in the Site Plan]
• Leasing parking spaces from neighboring lots for staff
• Purchasing land for an additional parking lot.
CHEMED does not own this lot. The lot is owned by Lakewood Township. In November 2016, the township leased this lot to LRRC/ Chemed for 50 years for nominal consideration of $1 per year.
In 2018 the LRRC was awarded a $1 million federal grant through the HRSA HIP grant to build and open this additional site. Robert Wood Johnson Barnabas Health and Monmouth Medical Center and Monmouth Medical Center Southern Campus are also partners in bringing the CHEMED South Site to fruition.
Construction on the southern campus began in October 2021, following completion of a prerequisite environmental cleanup. A formal groundbreaking ceremony was held in November 2021. The guest of honor was Congressman Christopher Smith who was very helpful in obtaining the $1 million federal grant for the construction. Mayor Ray Coles, Senator Bob Singer, as well as the heads of Robert Wood Johnson Barnabas Health and Monmouth Medical Center and Monmouth Medical Center Southern Campus, were called out and lauded for their support of this project.
Construction is in full swing and the new campus is expected to open by the end of this year or shortly into 2023.
3 comments:
Where are all the employees supposed to park? What kind of joke parking lot is this??
Why does only Chemed receive free land from the Township for their health center? Why don't all other medical offices and urgent care centers in Lakewood also receive free land from the Township?
You should probably ask Chemed’s director of public affairs, Menashe Miller. He definitely knows the answer.
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