An early rendering of the future project.

Brooks-TLC got its site plan for a new Brooks Memorial Hospital approved by the Fredonia Planning Board Wednesday.

The board also made a negative declaration on the project’s State Environmental Quality Review — another key part of the regulatory process needed before the approximately $200 million, 131,000 square foot hospital can break ground.

Hospital project counsel Marc Romanowski offered a presentation similar to one he gave to the Fredonia Board of Trustees a week prior. He noted how the plans changed from a two-story hospital in 2019 to a building that is now one story, but larger.

The hospital was also sited a little closer to Main Street “to help keep utility runs reasonable, as most of the runs are coming out of Main Street,” he said.

Romanowski additionally noted that the Route 60 access will be a full entrance and exit, not just an emergency-use driveway. Only right turns in and out will be allowed there.

Addressing water supply concerns that got new impetus after Fredonia’s latest boil order, Romanowski said the hospital will have dual connection points for “redundancy.”

He also talked about the helipad slated for the southeast corner of the property. “We don’t expect a lot of traffic as far as helicopter flights — about one in, one out on a monthly basis,” he said.

Romanowski reiterated a time frame of 32 months from groundbreaking to completion. “We’re trying to beat winter where we can for concrete pours in particular,” he said. As for the lengthy time frame, “Building out a hospital is very complex in terms of internal components.”

Three people spoke when Planning Board Chairman Adam Luce opened the meeting up to public comments. One of them was Richard Ketcham, a former Brooks-TLC CEO who worked on the blue ribbon committee that helped secure previously promised state funding for the project. Ketcham essentially asked for reiteration of the statements made about utilities and water.

The other two speakers were neighbors of the hospital that’s set for East Main Street. One of them was EvaDawn Bashaw, a former Fredonia village trustee.

Their concerns included lighting and access to their driveways. “The heliport thing is of concern to us,” Bashaw added.

She additionally suggested that ambulances not be allowed to use audible sirens in the area after 9 p.m. Bashaw asserted that the Fredonia Planning Board, as lead agency on the project, can mandate such a requirement.