HCA Agrees to Seek Trial Delay in Hospital Suit

Supervisors Will Take New Look at Proposal

The long-running dispute over a proposed hospital in Broadlands, which appeared headed for a courtroom this week, instead will return to the agenda of the Loudoun County Board of Supervisors.

Five days before its lawsuit against the county was to go to trial, HCA Virginia reached an agreement with county officials Wednesday to seek a postponement of the court case. HCA officials announced that they plan to resubmit a zoning request to supervisors to build the 164-bed Broadlands Regional Medical Center, and the board voted narrowly to go along with the trial delay.

HCA, Virginia's largest for-profit health-care provider, filed its suit in Loudoun Circuit Court after the Board of Supervisors denied its zoning application in 2005. Supervisors opposing the project said a 24-hour facility at the Dulles Greenway and Route 659 would create noise and traffic problems for neighboring communities.

But the nine-member board that took office in January includes four new faces and only two of the supervisors who opposed the earlier HCA request. HCA Virginia spokesman Mark Foust said the company thinks that the new board will be more receptive to its plans.

"We think that this will give the current board, which was not involved in the earlier review and denial, an opportunity to evaluate our submission with no preconditions and with no looming litigation," Foust said. He added that the application HCA will submit in the coming weeks will be virtually identical to the one rejected two years ago.

The project has received a certificate of public need from the state health commissioner.

The board voted 5 to 4 Wednesday to file a motion to seek a continuance of the trial and allow HCA to resubmit its request. The motion for a continuance must be approved by the judge in the case.

The two supervisors who had voted earlier against the project, Lori L. Waters (R-Broad Run) and Eugene A. Delgaudio (R-Sterling), voted against postponing the trial, as did Supervisor James Burton (I-Blue Ridge) and board Vice Chairman Susan Klimek Buckley (D-Sugarland Run).

Buckley, who took office this year, said the threat of litigation is still hanging over the board. HCA is likely to be back in court if the board denies the new application, she said.

"In my mind, it really was a matter of litigating it now or litigating it later," she said.

Kelly Burk (D-Leesburg), a new supervisor who voted in favor of postponing the trial, said she has not made up her mind on the hospital and thinks that both sides in the debate have made good points. She said that she decided the center deserved another review and that she was not worried about the prospect of more litigation.

"I don't feel compelled to vote one way or the other because there's a possibility of a lawsuit," Burk said. "Every decision that we make is liable for a lawsuit."

The board's vote was a setback for HCA's main local rival, Inova Health System. Inova officials have argued that the proposed site is too close to Inova Loudoun Hospital in Lansdowne, which is five miles away, and that the county's comprehensive plan calls for a broader geographical dispersal of health-care services. They also have said that the state is unlikely to approve Inova's plans to build a medical campus on Route 50 in the Arcola area if the Broadlands project moves forward.

Inova Loudoun chief executive Randy Kelley said Thursday that he was disappointed with the board's decision.

"We have spent years building the health-care system in this county to reflect" the county's comprehensive plan, Kelley said. "That's why we're building on Route 50. HCA's proposed facility is completely inconsistent with that plan."

HCA maintains that the Broadlands hospital is sorely needed in southern Loudoun.

"This hospital is badly needed in the county, and it is supported by the community," Foust said. "We are taking steps to try to build this hospital sooner rather than later to grant health-care access to all residents."