Residents frustrated over ‘delays’ for proposed Naples heart institute

NAPLES, Fla. – Naples residents have expressed concerns over how long the city is taking to consider a proposed Naples Community Hospital Heart and Stroke Institute downtown.

Around May of 2021, NCH Healthcare System began working with the city on the proposed Heart and Stroke Institute so that it could be built at the downtown NCH campus. In June 2021, the city council adopted an ordinance limiting the height in commercial zoning districts to three floors.

Since then, the proposed project has made its way through months of public workshops, public hearings, review board meetings, and meetings with the planning advisory board.

Supporters of the heart institute said the center is needed to provide critical and time sensitive care to patients, while some others in downtown reportedly don’t want a taller building near the surrounding residential houses.

Throughout the negotiations, NCH’s board chairman said the hospital agreed to lower the building’s height from six stories to five, reduced its square footage, relocated the parking area farther from the street, and added more landscaping.

The Naples City Council had previously unanimously approved allowing “community hospital” language to the public services zoning category in August 2022.

In November 2023, NCH asked the city’s Planning Advisory Board to have the property rezoned so it could exceed this city’s three story maximum height allowance.

However, the advisory board put off the rezoning decision until its Dec. 13 meeting, citing lack of “sufficient” information to recommend an approval, according to a city spokesperson.

The board wants more information on parking, signage, traffic, and more details on why the height change is needed, according to a city spokesperson.

“NCH feels that our proposed heart, vascular, and stroke institute has been stalled for quite some time,” NCH President and CEO Paul Hiltz told Florida’s Voice in a statement.

Hiltz said the city’s “demands” for surveys and studies have been submitted by NCH in a timely manner.

“However, they continue to ask for some of these same items that we have already supplied in good faith, and for others, the city appears to have changed the goal post tacking on new requests for NCH to complete before any further forward movement is made,” Hiltz said.

No local tax dollars support the project. About $100 million has been donated for the institute with NCH calling it the “most philanthropically supported project” in the company’s history.

Even with the financial support, “it has also been the longest running project to get out of the gate in our history as well,” Hiltz said.

NCH notes that about 70% of its heart and stroke patients requiring interventions live within 10 miles of Baker Hospital. The chairman of NCH’s board has said another potential location for the heart institute is their north campus, but some residents believe that second location would be too far away.

Naples resident John Allen has worked to garner support for the hospital with signs that write: “A Stroke is no time for a road trip Naples City Council…. Keep NCH care downtown!”

Hundreds of signs were placed on residential lawns in Naples.

“This is an initiative of a widespread group of citizens and business leaders who said ‘enough of this is enough with this hospital,'” Allen said. “We are all of the opinion that the hospital has made a number of concessions… but they can’t do anymore.”

Allen said the code compliance division of the city notified them that the signs are too large and don’t comply with city code. Signs are required to be 12 inches by 18 inches and be placed no closer than 15 feet from a roadway on someone’s private residential property, according to code.

“I understand that’s their ordinance,” Allen said. “I just don’t believe that the ordinance is consistent with my constitutional rights of free speech. And I believe the ordinance itself can be challenged as it suppresses my free speech, because that 12 by 18 sign doesn’t allow me to communicate my protected message.”

Allen claimed that the city’s public notice signs are “significantly larger” than city code.

Florida’s Voice asked the city about Allen’s comments and was told that the code compliance division’s letter was sent to residents with the signs.

Florida’s Voice reached out to all members on the Naples City Council about the concerns regarding the length of time to consider the hospital’s proposal.

Council Member Ted Blankenship said he believes the process has been “highly inefficient,” saying no more “delays” should be made.

“Unfortunately, a number of my colleagues have made this process much more difficult than it needs to be,” Blankenship said.

The council member said if the city continues to “play games with NCH,” the proposed facility could move 45 minutes north.

“It is my concern that many of my colleagues will continue to move the goalposts despite significant transparency and hard work by NCH leadership,” the council member said.

Council Member Beth Petrunoff expressed a differing opinion, saying claims that the city has “slow walked” the project are not valid.

“I do not believe that our great community hospital would be so irresponsible to either our citizens or its donors and willfully spread fake news that waste time and set off alarm bells on something so important as our health,” Petrunoff said.

“Council hasn’t seen anything from the hospital in almost two years,” she noted, saying that the hospital may come before council in early 2024.

“I haven’t spoken with anyone who lives in the city or works for the city who doesn’t top notch ‘seconds matter’ heart and stroke care for our community – especially given our demographics,” Petrunoff continued.

NCH’s president and CEO had said they continue to be “hopeful” that their diligence in providing requested information will “help” elected officials “feel more comfortable” with allowing the project to be approved.