City Council to hold public hearing regarding hospital

COLUMBIA — The City Council will hold a public hearing at 7 p.m. Monday regarding the proposed rezoning of land for a long-term acute care hospital.

The land, 4.73 acres at the northeast corner of Alfred Street and Old 63, would need to be rezoned from single-family residential.

Development consultant Jay Burchfield said that patients in Columbia who need a long-term acute care hospital currently have to travel to Kansas City, St. Louis or Springfield.

On March 20, the Planning and Zoning Commission voted 5-3 to recommend the rezoning and voted 6-2 in support of the development plan. More than 30 members of the Country Club Estates Neighborhood Association came to the meeting to oppose the rezoning, arguing that it would set a precedent for future development of other residential property along Old 63.

The proposed hospital would be 32,000 square feet and hold 42 beds. Burchfield said it would create 120 full-time and 30 part-time jobs.