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HomeMy WebLinkAboutCorrespondence: Remonstrance • 361 Millridge Street 94 Indianapolis,IN 46290/„,n,, ���, September 17,2014 +y` r?n5•n �I' �,5 `h.f Board of Zoning Appeals cQ' c/o Connie Tingley,Secretary Department Services ° �' 8 One Civic Square L 9 9 Carmel,IN 46032, RE: Zoning changes for helipad at 10202 North Meridian As I write this letter a very loud helicopter flies over my house at 361 Millridge Dr. It was so loud that my husband and I had to wait for it to pass to finish our conversation. Every time a helicopter flies by our house the noise is so loud that I am afraid it might crash.That is why we recommend that the zoning board not approve the pending request for a helipad at 10202 N. Meridian. In addition to the noise we question the need.There are already multiple helipads in this area and are not near capacity.We also fear that approval of this request will decrease the value of our house. In summary,we ask that you reject the helipad request. Thank you, .4/11n4A4 L44 9/14.1v1A4 4-ed James and Marjorie Herald Board of Zoning Appeals Connie Tingley, Secretary Department of Community Services One Civic Square Carmel, IN 46032 September 15, 2014 Dear Ms. Tingley, I am writing this letter to express my opposition to the zoning request by St. Vincent Heart Center to develop a heliport on property located at 10202 N. Meridian Street. As a 40 year resident of Carmel and a 15 year homeowner at the Reserve II, I have seen tremendous business development, roadway projects and landscape destruction. I understand that change is inevitable and necessary to grow a community, but it has been hard to adjust to these enormous and frequent disruptions. Now comes another request for development in the form of the heliport within close distance to homes, businesses and roadways. Below is a list of the reasons for my opposition and I ask that you consider them closely. 1. Noise pollution in the area has steadily increased over the years due to construction of Illinois Street to the west and now the large interchange at 96th Street and Meridian Street, which extends to within a half -mile of the Reserve. The sound of a helicopter will increase noise to an unacceptable residential level. 2. There already exist three heliports within a three mile radius of the proposed site: IU Hospital at 116th Street and Illinois Street, the former Conseco headquarters and St. Vincent Hospital at 86th Street and Harcourt Road, and also existing or potential landing sites at the residential Irsay and Lucas properties. 3. The safety record of emergency helicopters has been questioned repeatedly over recent years with several well- documented crashes. 4. Emergency cardiac care services with helicopter access already exist at St. Vincent Hospital 86th Street. The same physicians practice at both the 86th Street facility and the Heart Hospital with equal professional support staffs and clinical and surgical capabilities. In my estimation, the construction of another helport represents a needless duplication of services. 5. At the time the Heart Hospital was built, certain "promises" were made to nearby residents at several meetings, including that there would be no emergency room nor would there be sirens. Both of these promises have been - and now will continue to be - broken. 6. If time from helicopter landing to dilation in the operation room is paramount as described by the physicians at a recent meeting, there is no doubt that the pad at 86th Street is closer to the hospital, and thus operating room, door, and therefore would provide quicker service. In closing, I ask you to consider the unique and beautiful residential areas that lie north and west of the Reserve development. the residents of all of these areas deserve some consideration as Carmel continues to grow into a world -class city since in the end, it is those residents who are at the heart of a strong, vibrant community. Thank you for your consideration, Patricia G. Hester fiEtigni Board of Zoning Appeals i Ep/ c/o Connie Tingley,,Secretary * Department of Community Services One Civic Square. "' g Carmel,IN 46032 e- C M Four years ago my husband and I moved into The Reserve II on Springmill Road. We bought the home for the lovely setting which was beautiful and quiet yet with easy access to both Carmel and Indianapolis. Since that time the City of Carmel has elected to build Illinois street directly behind our home. In doing so they took the liberty of cutting down more than 25 pine trees directly - - behind the homes on our street that were not only beautiful but buffered us from the,noise of the parking lots directly behind us. These trees were planted 20 years ago as a condition. of the Heart Center being built. My'understanding is that these trees were cut down in error but the effect of the trees being gone is increased noise and that is BEFORE the Illinois Street is completed. Now St.Vincent wants to increase the noise in our neighborhood by building a helipad just hundreds of feet away from our homes even though there are at least 4 other helipads in the vicinitythatthey could use. Obviously they don't need a helipad, they just WANT it. I VEHAMENTLY OBJECT TO THIS”'"Ilw��►�►►� When the Heart Center was built they stated that they would never try to build a helipad. And yet in 2008 that is exactly what they tried to do. Thankfully it did not pass. And now once again they are trying to disturb not only our quality of life but the security of our neighborhood. Helicopter crashes on take offs and landings occur all too frequently. And the DECREASE IN THE VALUE OF OUR PROPERIES is all too real. PLEASE DO NOT LET THIS-HAPPEN!!!!!! - I will appreciate your-vote AGAINST this helipad. Sincerely, Beaty O.Morey, 331 Millridge Dr. Indianapolis,;IN. 46290 w . City of Carmel, Clay Township Board of Zoning Appeals Docket No 14070012 5°~ co' Docket No 14070013 1720J Docket No 14070014 co 4 Docket No 14070015 4,� Docket No 14070016 � = For Hearing Scheduled September 22, 2014 Re: Applicant-St. Vincent-.-Health,Jnc:_for_St._Vincent-Heart,Cen:ter to-add_a Helipad facility at 10202 North Meridian Street. PETITION The undersigned petitioners,being=owners and residents of The Reserve located on Spring Mill. Road,oppose applicants' request to install a Helipad at 10202 North Meridian Street approximately.3 blocks south'of the St'Vincent Heart Center(SVHC)which is located at'10580'N. Meridian St..Your petitioners object strenuously to°the n oise and danger involved with a Helipad for several reasons. Helicopters were not contemplated in 2001:when SVHC was originally approved at the Plan Commission and neighbors were promised that ambulances would turnoff their sirens when entering the neighborhood:This was due to the SPeeializi. of the hospital, a chest pain center in lieu of a full emergency room. For these and other.reasons; the neighborsdid'not oppose the facility. Now SVHC is claiming-that a helicopter service is essential because the main St. Vincent facility on West 86th Street, which,already has two dedicated landing pads, is too slow in movement of heart patients to the catherization lab once they enter the°facility. The same doctors serve heart patients at both St. Vincent facilities: These doctors and their colleagues stress that the West 86th Street facility cannot be sufficiently focused on efficiently and quickly moving heart patients with life-threatening conditions to the catherization labs. Your petitioners again respectfully submit that working with the West 86th Street St.Vincent management to streamline and expedite admitting procedures for such heart patients is a better answer than introducing a helicopter landing facility so close to a residential area. Furthermore, this was requested at BZA in September 2008 and opposed by residents. This request was rejected. This second request is now made at this different location 3 blocks from the SVHC on the Illinois St. corridor. This is viewed as unnecessary as for a number of years SVHC has - successfully utilized a Helipad at.122" d and Pennsylvania Street,2 milesfrom.the SVHC and:we see no reason this should be changed This requires transportation by Ambulance from the Helipad,to the. Emergency Department at SVHC. There'is also a helpad at the IU�I ospita located at 116th street available'for use by SVHC The Proposed new Helipad also requires transportation by.Ambulance:from the Helipad to the Emergency'Department at SVHC. Only a small.difference:in transport time would be realized from the newly proposed helipad. TO: Board of Zoning Appeals 036 % Connie Tingly -Secretary Dep't. of Community Services One Civic Square ,cr, H2O Carmel, Indiana 46032 co FROM: Irving Freeman 10393 Spring Highland Drive Indianapolis, Indiana 46290 ( The Reserve One ) SUBJECT: Helicopter Pad Planned DATE: Seprember 16,2014 Dear Sir: Iam sending you a few notes ONLY because I have experienced a Heliport Being near a condo we rented some years ago in the Scottsdale ,Arizona Area. We were some 2 -300 yards PLUS a little more away from heliport. The problems were as follows: 1. We heard the Whirley Bird at ALL time'when making its approach To the pad. ( Its direction of landing did not stop us from hearing The noise) 2. At times when they landed over our Condo, you thought they were Going to land in the Living Room or Kitchen. 3. Above all-I noted with interest A LOT of FOR SALE signs on and Around our Condo. I understand at present- you are using a pad that CONSECO used. If so- you might save ( with a little luck) a few and I say a VERY Few minutes or possibly seconds with a new Heliport. Is the NEW HELIPAD that you are planning reallyworth all the problems That you are causing with the neighbors and offices etc OR is St Vincents Heart Hospital looking for some NEW BRAGGING RIGHTS ST.VINCENT HOSPITAL WILL ALWAYS BE GREAT WITH OR WITHOUT A HELIPAD NEXT DOOR. . . .. A236.� • cps, DATE:September 19th, 2014 n ficC TO: Board of Zoning Appeals $Ep - sI Department of Community Services 1 6 2014 y ss One Civic Square Carmel, IN 46032 RE:THE ST.VINCENT'S HEART CENTER HELIPAD—WE URGE YOU TO VOTE NOT TO APPROVE Z �+ // WHY? 1. "Want"versus"Need":The Heart Center"wants"this helipad even though • Their parent hospital,St.Vincent's already has a helipad on 86th Street—just 20 blocks south. • Two Helipads Already Exist For Their Use:They currently use the helipad that was once at Conseco but now is the property of Jim Irsay. When questioned,they have made no attempt to negotiate a 5- 10—20 year or any long term lease with Mr. Irsay.They would rather purchase a very expensive piece of land and build a helipad. What ever happened to attempting to control health care when this hospital administration is willing to spend about a million dollars on another helipad when they already have two? 2. Patient Care Impact:The Heart Center tells us that they need this helipad to improve patient care...that it will take less time to transport a patient via ambulance from the new helipad versus their current site. Yet,when questioned,they could not sight on example of a patient being negatively impacted by the very short trip over the last 15+years the Heart Center has been in existence and using the current helipad. At any location,the patient will need to be placed in an ambulance and transported and the time saved is negligible given that the patient has already traveled 15 to 30 minutes from an out of town location such as Terre Haute, Lafayette, Muncie etc.. 3. Noise and Safety Impact:The Reserve has been a neighbor for many years and has been promised a number of things from The Heart Center that they have not kept [one example was that this would not be an emergency heart treatment center]. Now they want to fly a helicopter about 10 times a day over our neighborhood and are trying to convince us that there will be no noise impact or safety issues. No one can be that naïve. 4. Property Value and Taxes:A helipad, along with the re-routing of Illinois directly behind our property is going to have two negative impacts on our property values. When the value of our property goes down, assessments follow and the County collects less tax revenue. None of that is necessary if the Heart Center keeps its current two helipads operating and not waste money trying to build another. For these reasons alone, my wife and I strongly recommend you reject their zoning request,just as a similar Board did approximately six years ago. geXadDVk(At Richard R. Butz RoseMarie Butz 307 Millridge.Drive 307 Millridge Drive . Indianapolis, IN 46290 Indianapolis,.IN 317-2641164 317-581-1055 Tingley, Connie S From: Eric and Judy Fox <fox2817 @aol.com> Sent: Sunday, September 14, 2014 10:09 AM To: Tingley, Connie S Cc: tomkegley @indy.rr.com;fox2817 @aol.com _ \ Subject: BZA Hearing re St. Vincent Heart Center to add a helipad facility . %q 5 6 7 4 Carmel Board of Zoning Appeals t _ ,/ , \T;, . t .l1. ';�' I do Connie Tingley, Secretary -�� SEP 1 Carmel City Hall (,q 62r114 One Civic Square 1,ca 7' ? ,4 Carmel, IN 46032 ,� •� ee ctinglevcarmel.in.qov � Dear Ms. Tingley: I am writing to formally oppose the request by St. Vincent Heart Center to install a helipad at 10202 N. Meridian Street. I have been working in the medical field, specializing in cardiac, stroke and diabetes treatment for over 25 years. During this time, the one thing I have learned is that physicians view medical outcomes seriously and they are trained to practice evidence-based medicine. To the best of my knowledge, there have never been outcomes data supporting the risk-benefit or superiority of air transport vs. ground transport in distances under 150 miles. At the 8/20/14 Neighborhood Meeting held at The Heart Center, we learned that St. Vincent is requesting the helipad because they want to eliminate the potential impediments to delivering quality patient care. They want to shorten the distance and time between unloading the helicopter and arrival at the ER. The Banker's Life (formerly Conseco) helipad is 1.5 miles away. The proposed new site is 0.5 miles away. The patient still needs to be moved from the helicopter to the ambulance and then driven to the emergency room. When Rt. 31 construction is complete, travel time from Banker's Life helipad will be significantly shortened as wait times at stop lights will be removed with the creation of more round-a-bouts. The real time consumer is the distance of the hospital originating the transfer, not the 1.5 mile distance from the Banker's Life helipad to the ER. I would like to examine closer St. Vincent's need to eliminate impediments to delivering quality patient care and why this does not support an additional helipad. The national PCI (Percutaneous Coronary Intervention) standard for door to reperfusion time (arriving at the ER and having artery access in the cardiac catheterization lab) is 90 minutes. In fact, regardless whether patients who had a PCI at The Heart Center were transported by air or ground, the hospital's door to reperfusion times were almost half the national recommendation of 90 minutes. In 2011, the latest year data was published, the hospital's door to reperfusion time was 55 minutes. On a whole, method of transport did not impact door to reperfusion times. During the Neighborhood Meeting, the hospital kept stressing that they want to insure safety and quality of care for their patients. All the data on key performance factors only points to excellent care being provided at The Heart Center. The location of the existing helipad did not negatively impact these outcomes. I would like to know how many of the 229 patients airlifted to Banker's Life helipad in 2013 had negative outcomes. The Heart Center is licensed for 107 medical/surgical beds. More and more hospitals are performing PCIs, so it is no wonder the budgeted census of the hospital stated during the Neighborhood meeting is only 56 patients. The proposal to create an additional helipad in Carmel gives the impression that The Heart Center would market this new service to their out-lying facilities and partnered hospitals to transfer patients and increase their occupancy rate. It gives the appearance that St. Vincent is putting profit ahead of reason. This is clearly a duplication of services and they have not substantiated a true unmet need. The occasions when air transport is required could be handled by transport to the 86th Street facility or to any number of hospitals who perform PCIs or other cardiac or vascular surgeries. In a true emergency, when time is of the essence, hospital ownership should not factor into the selection of sites for treatment. There are full service facilities that perform both invasive and surgical cardiac treatment in Ft. Wayne, Merrillville, Munster, South Bend, Terre Haute, Lafayette, Columbus and Indianapolis, to name a few. Hospital affiliation and ownership should be secondary to medical treatment. 1 Besides the obvious concerns over environmental impact(noise and crash danger), there is the concern over potential negative impact to property values. In addition, the cost of overall health care will be impacted. What percentage of air transport is covered by commercial insurance, Medicare and Medicaid? I'm not sure, but I am certain that it will eventually affect my personal insurance premiums and taxes. Lastly, if St. Vincent Heart Center believes it needs 100% control over the use of a helipad in order to"eliminate potential impediments to delivering good patient care", why don't they offer to purchase the site from Mr. James Ursay, the current owner, with the assurance that he would have use of the helipad unless there was a medical helicopter en route or currently on the site. This would provide the Heart Center with control and reduce the duplication of unnecessary services in our community. As a professional in the health care industry, I am continually amazed by the advances of modern medicine and how we have been able to save lives and enhance the quality of life. I am grateful to live in a community with so many excellent facilities and clinicians. I am, however, deeply concerned over unnecessary duplication of services and the toll this is taking on our health care system. I respectfully ask that you deny this request for an additional helipad in Carmel. Regards, Judy Fox 399 Ventana Court Indianapolis, IN 46290 2 City of Carmel, Clay Township Board of Zoning Appeals Docket No. Docket No. Docket No. Docket No. Docket No. 14070012 14070013 14070014 14070015 14070016 For Hearing Scheduled September 22, 2014 Re: Applicant St. Vincent Health, Inc. for St. Vincent Heart Center to add a Helipad facility at 10202 North Meridian Street. PETITION The undersigned petitioner, being owner and resident of BELLE MEADE subdivision located at Spring Mill Road and 96th Street near oppose applicants' request to install a Helipad at 10202 North Meridian Street approximately 3 blocks south of the St. Vincent Heart Center (SVHC) which is located at 10580 N Meridian St. Your petitioners object strenuously to-the noise and danger involved with a Helipad for several reasons. Helicopters were not contemplated in 2001 when SVHC was originally approved at the Plan Commission and neighbors were promised that ambulances would turn off their sirens when entering the neighborhood. For those reasons, the neighbors did not oppose the facility. Now SVHC is claiming that a helicopter service is essential because the main St. Vincent facility on West 86th Street, which already has two dedicated landing pads, is too slow in movement of heart patients to the catherization lab once they enter the facility. The same doctors serve heart patients at both St. Vincent facilities. These doctors and their colleagues stress that the West 86th Street facility cannot be sufficiently focused on efficiently and quickly moving heart patients with life - threatening conditions to the catherization labs. Your petitioners again respectfully submit that working with the West 86th Street St. Vincent management to streamline and expedite admitting procedures for such heart patients is a better answer than introducing a helicopter landing facility so close to a residential area. Furthermore, this was requested at BZA in September 2008 and opposed by residents. This request was rejected. This second request is now made at this different location 3 blocks from the SVHC on the Illinois St. corridor. This is viewed as unnecessary as for a number of years SVHC has successfully utilized a Helipad at 122nd and Pennsylvania Street 2 miles from the SVHC and we see no reason this should be changed. This requires transportation .by Ambulance from the Helipad to the Emergency Department at SVHC. The Proposed new Helipad also requires transportation by Ambulance from the Helipad to the Emergency Department at SVHC. Only a small difference in transport time would be realized from the newly proposed helipad. Carol Weiss September 12, 2014 Dear BZA, I am writing to protest the creation of a helipad in the office park, which backs up to the Reserve at Springmill where I lived. The arguments put forth by the St. Vincent Heart Hospital are not nearly as compelling as those of the neighborhood, which was created as a buffer against commercialization. The hospital has an inherently sympathetic position because talking about patients in distress always creates sympathy. The reality, however, is that no patient's health is at risk. The helipad is being proposed because it would enhance the appeal of the Heart Hospital to those who read its promotional pieces. The St. Vincent Heart Hospital has a business interest in the helipad. It is a "want" rather than a "need." There are many options for landing . a helicopter that would service the St. Vincent Heart Hospital. On the other hand, our neighborhood has been increasingly impinged upon by the development in the office part, and early promises have been repeatedly broken. We simply have no trust that the requests for development will every stop. We are concerned about: noise, accidents, a decrease in our property values and in the increased activity in the area behind our homes. I am urging you to turn down the request for a helipad for the St. Vincent Heart Hospital.. Thank you, dy.p Q Carol Weiss 301 Millridge Drive • Indianapolis • Indiana 46290 (317) 846 -4849 • Fax (317) 844 -4802 carolweiss@mac.com David T. & E. Jean Fronek 373 Millridge Drive Indianapolis, IN 46290 September 12, 2014 Ms. Connie Tingley, Secretary Board of Zoning Appeals Department of Community Services One Civic Square Carmel, IN 46032 Re: St. Vincent Helipad Variance Request Dear Ms. Tingley We am writing this letter to the Board of Zoning Appeals to voice opposition to the variance requests related to the proposed helipad to be located at 10202 North Meridian Street. The applicant is St. Vincent Health, Inc. My involvement with this matter dates back to the original application for approval of the Heart Hospital in 2001 and again back in 2008 when a similar zoning variance request was proposed for a helipad to be located at 10330 North Meridian. I personally attended both of these meetings. I have attended numerous discussions involving this matter and believe, similar to the 2008 proposal, the need for an additional helipad has not been demonstrated. There are sufficient helipad locations in the immediate area to properly transport heart patents, the present arrangement has been working effectively, and alternatives exist for St. Vincent to transport patients to their hospital on 86th street where two additional helipads exist to receive patients. St. Vincent markets their critical heart care facilities as being equivalent in scope to one another, although the 86`h street campus is equipped to perform additional services such as transplants. This request represents more of a "want" rather than a "need" in terms of what this physician owned St. Vincent facility wants to accomplish; that is, expanding its marketing and increasing census count by attracting more out of area patients. Since 2001 this hospital has repositioned itself from a critical heart care facility which it stated in its zoning request to more of an emergency type of facility. I believe when the original zoning for the joint commercial /residential area was put in place for this general area there were to be compromises by both to live together as a joint community. Adding a helipad is a sharp deviation from such an envisioned partnership between commercial businesses and residences. As minutes of the 2001 meeting state "...specialized nature of the hospital, there will be a chest pain center in lieu of a full emergency room, thus limiting ambulance traffic . " and the minutes reference in several places there were no plans for a helicopter pad for this facility and comments from participants that the thought of a helipad was terrifying! I recognize business models David T. & E. Jean Fronek 373 Millridge Drive Indianapolis, IN 46290 change and the nature of this hospital going from not for profit ownership to partially physician owned presents new economic dynamics and the need for increased revenue. But the hospital needs to remember its original commitment that the "Heart Hospital is not a full- fledged emergency hospital." The present patient transport has worked successfully since the hospital was built; I have not been informed in any meeting that there was ever a patient care issue due to the current helipad arrangement. Additionally, the hospital always has the alternative of transporting to the 86th street campus where duplicate services are always available, as was stated as its intent in the original hospital application. Noise and accident dangers are going to be detrimental to the commercial area and residential communities nearby. We are likely to encounter an appreciable decline in property valuations of our residences. Noise from the newly routed Illinois Street is going to impact our neighborhood and the City had destroyed the tree buffer next to our wall that was part of the original heart hospital agreement. Noise and light pollution is becoming a serious issue. To the best of my knowledge this variance has not been approved by the Planning Commission which a member of the Commission stated was a requirement if this issue ever came up in the future. We enjoy Iiving in Carmel and in our neighborhood near 106th and Springmill. We built a home when we moved back to Carmel in 1998. We recognized our environmental situation was going to be a neighborhood adjacent to commercial businesses and accepted it. We have had some issues over the years but worked with the owners to improve the situation — noise from air handling equipment, parking lot lights, etc. Now with Illinois Street and the new Meridian Street we are facing some serious impacts on quality of life matters and potential property devaluation. We will work through this road construction and return somewhat back to normal when it is all completed. Adding an element of a nearby helipad, when it cannot be demonstrated that it is necessary for patient care and in fact is going to increase our overall cost of health care is simply unwarranted. We respectively request the BZA to decline this application. Sincerely, David T. Fronek THOMAS W. KEGLEY 10431 SPRING HIGHLAND DRIVE INDIANAPOLIS, INDIANA 46290 September 13, 2014 Carmel /Clay Board of Zoning Appeals c/o Carol Tingley, Secretary Carmel City Hall One Civic Square Carmel, IN 46032 RE: St. Vincent Heart Center Helipad Dear Board Members: I reside in and serve as president of the HOA at the Reserve at Spring Mill, which is just west of the St. Vincent Heart Center at 106t'' and Meridian Street. I oppose the variance application to permit a helipad to be built in a heavily populated residential area for a number of reasons. 1) Commitments were made to residents at the time of approval for the Heart Center that no Helipad is to be planned. This was documented in the May 15, 2001 BZA hearing that this would be a "chest pain center" and not an emergency room type facility. 2) The St. Vincent Heart Center has utilized the Conseco Corporate helipad at 122"d and Pennsylvania for several years with no documented adverse impact to patients. But now that IU Health has a helipad at their new Hospital at 116th and Meridian, St. Vincent insist that the time to transport patients less than two mile is causing increased "patient risks" for their patients. This is causing one to really question the motivation of St. Vincent. And St. Vincent already has a helipad at the main hospital on West 86th Street with the same staff as the Heart Center, which they claim can not adhere to the same level of care; why can this not be addressed by St. Vincent? It is not clear if St. Vincent West 86th is "not- for - profit" and St. Vincent Heart Center is "for profit ", with partial ownership by the physicians who practice there. 3) The noise and safety concerns of residents around the St. Vincent Heart Center are real issues which can not be minimized. This concern will translate to reduced property values to property owners. 4) St. Vincent should have had the forethought when planning the facility several years ago, as should the Carmel Planning Commission, of the impact in the adjacent residential neighborhoods. I request the Board of Zoning Appeals consider the real issues and need for such a variance which, if approved, would have significant negative impact to residents of Carmel and while it would not have an increased positive impact to the health of residents of the State of Indiana. The above is a letter frrst presented to the BZA in August of 2008, and all the reasons still apply. Thomas W. Kegley September 12, 2014 Board of Zoning Appeals %Carol Tingley, Secretary Department of Community Services One Civic Square Carmel, IN 46032 Dear Board Members, Prior to relocating to Carmel two years, I was in senior administration in a large healthcare system in Louisiana. Like St. Vincent Hospital, we prided ourselves in being named one of the best heart hospitals in the nation. I am happy to live in Carmel where healthcare is also top quality. However, in the healthcare climate of this day and time, cost must be top of the mind with hospital administrators. I do not feel St. Vincent Heart Hospital is being cost conscious when they propose to build a heliport within 2 miles of two other existing heliports. Rather, it appears that physician financial gains may be the driving force behind this proposal. The proposed heliport will likely result in a decrease of property values along Spring Mill, which will lead to less tax revenue for the City. I urge you to carefully consider this proposal and vote against the unnecessary duplication of healthcare services. Sincerely, Nila Willhoite 396 Ventana Court Indianapolis, IN 46290 1 William R. and Elizabeth A. Coffey 10437 Spring Highland Drive Indianapolis, IN 46290 September 12, 2014 Board of Zoning Appeals Connie Tingley, Secretary Department of Community Services One Civic Square Carmel, IN 46932 Dear Ms. Tingley, EE SEP 1 5 2014 Our family is opposed to the St. Vincent heliport to be located at 10202 N. Meridian St. Having a heliport so near our neighborhood will be a serious noise nuisance not contemplated by us when we acquired our home in 1998. What happened to the St. Vincent promise there would be no heliport when the hospital was first being proposed for the neighborhood? What has changed? The St. Vincent presentation is that helicopters are not that much noise! Helicopters landing and taking off produce a huge amount of noise, and no amount of sound expert testimony can change that. The BZA should be offended by a presentation that St. Vincent's helicopters will not produce offensive noise particularly in the middle of the night when they wake up the neighborhood. St. Vincent doctors will argue that minutes, even a few 5 or 10 minutes, is critical. Yet, St. Vincent regularly has its patients flown in by helicopter bypassing well established heart hospitals. From the north, St. Vincent's helicopters will fly past available cardiology services in Lafayette taking more time to get on down to Carmel, Indiana. This is the case from all directions. How then can a few more minutes matter when driving down from 122nd Street? There are many more arguments that can be made against St. Vincent's position that it wants a heliport. It is a marketing tool for St. Vincent no matter how it is presented by them. St. Vincent does not want to use the IU Hospital North heliport and drive down the new Illinois Street because of the marketing appearance. That is true even though IU Health does not do heart surgery at the 116th St. IU Health — North hospital. Respectfully, please do not approve the St. V incent heliport proposal. That would be a serious noise and value problem for our neighborhood. Very truly yours, William R. Coffey Elizab h A. Coffey Board of zoning appeals c/o Connie Tiretary Department of Community Services One Civic Square Carmel, IN 46032 September 12, 2015 Re: Proposed helipad To whom it may concern: I have a practiced medicine in Indianapolis for over 40 years. During that time I have seen many changes in the practice of medicine some for the good and some bad. Competition among the hospitals to gain patients is very often a good thing but unfortunately it frequently results in unnecessary and expensive duplication of services. A glaring example of this duplicity is the proposed St. Vincent helipad. This hospital already has access to a helipad in the area. A second helipad exists just a few blocks away at the Indiana University Hospital. It is very doubtful that lives would be saved by this proposed helipad. There are dangers of helicopter use to not only the occupants of the helicopter but to the area surrounding the landing areas including residents of the Reserve. Statistics show that the helicopter accident rate is 7.5 per 100,000 hours of flying, whereas the airplane accident rate is approximately 0.175 per 100,000 flying hours. Helicopters are 43 times more likely to crash than conventional fixed wing aircraft. Noise levels of helicopters are deafening, measured at 105 decibels, louder than a jackhammer or a screaming child. This could be especially troublesome to area residents especially at night. Property values of residential areas around landing areas have been shown to drop about 1.3% per decibel of additional quiet. Who would want to live next to a helipad? My wife Martha and I are vehemently opposed to a helipad in our otherwise quiet neighborhood which we believe is disquieting, unnecessary, and will adversely affect our home value. Sincerely, Thomas S Moore M.D. 10417 Spring Highland Dr. Indianapolis, IN J. Burdeane Orris and Garnet L. Finn 10438 Spring Highland Dr. Indianapolis, IN 46290 -1098 317 - 294 -2136 15 September 2014 Board of Zoning Appeals Connie Tingley, Secretary Department of Community Services One Civic Square Carmel, IN 46032 Dear Board Members: As residents of the Reserve I neighborhood we are writing to voice our opposition to the proposed helipad to be located at 10202 N. Meridian Street for St. Vincent Heart Hospital. My wife and I attended the meeting of Aug. 20 where the case was made to the neighborhood. We were not convinced by the information and arguments presented. The hospital said the helipad was important because time is important in treating heart patients. We drove and timed the current route and the proposed route. The results indicated that the most they could hope to save would be around three minutes travel time, probably less once the road construction is completed. If a patient is stable enough for a helicopter ride, three minutes more travel time should not be critical. The hospital did not present any data that there would have been better outcomes for any patients if there had been a helicopter pad at the proposed location. The hospital also indicated that they were concerned because they had no control over the present helipad location. Perhaps they could work to secure access at the current site by leasing the facility or building another pad adjacent to it. The primary concerns for the Reserve I residents are noise and safety. The proposed landing pattern is away from our neighborhood, but it is still close and even a slight deviation would put helicopters over our neighborhood. Also, the proposed landing pattern would have helicopters landing very near the highway and could distract traffic near the I- 465 /Meridian St. interchange. The hospital presented data that claimed to show the noise would not be very loud. However, the charts were unreadable and not convincing. If they believed the noise level would not be a problem, why not schedule a test landing and take -off to convince us? In summary we feel that negligible savings in travel time do not compensate for the safety and noise concerns. Sincerely, T a ,-,,-Q — J. Burdeane Orris and Garnet L. Finn City of Carmel, Clay Township Board of Zoning Appeals Docket No. Docket No. Docket No. Docket No. Docket No. 14070012 14070013 14070014 14070015 14070016 For Hearing Scheduled September 22, 2014 Eti SEP 1 5 2014 Re: Applicant St. Vincent Health, Inc. for St. Vincent Heart Center to add a Helipad facility at 10202 North Meridian Street. PETITION The undersigned petitioners, being owners and residents of The Reserve located on Spring Mill Road, oppose applicants' request to install a Helipad at 10202 North Meridian Street approximately 3 blocks south of the St. Vincent Heart Center (SVHC) which is located at 10580 N. Meridian St. Your petitioners object strenuously to the noise and danger involved with a Helipad for several reasons. Helicopters were not contemplated in 2001 when SVHC was originally approved at the Plan Commission and neighbors were promised that ambulances would turn off their sirens when entering the neighborhood. This was due to the specialized nature of the hospital; a chest pain center in lieu of a full emergency room. For these and other reasons, the neighbors did not oppose the facility. Now SVHC is claiming that a helicopter service is essential because the main St. Vincent facility on West 86th Street, which already has two dedicated landing pads, is too slow in movement of heart patients to the catherization lab once they enter the facility. The same doctors serve heart patients at both St. Vincent facilities. These doctors and their colleagues stress that the West 86th Street facility cannot be sufficiently focused on efficiently and quickly moving heart patients with life- threatening conditions to the catherization labs. Your petitioners again respectfully submit that working with the West 86th Street St. Vincent management to streamline and expedite admitting procedures for such heart patients is a better answer than introducing a helicopter landing facility so close to a residential area. Furthermore, this was requested at BZA in September 2008 and opposed by residents. This request was rejected. This second request is now made at this different location 3 blocks from the SVHC on the Illinois St. corridor. This is viewed as unnecessary as for a number of years SVHC has successfully utilized a Helipad at 122" and Pennsylvania Street 2 miles from the SVHC and we see no reason this should be changed. This requires transportation by Ambulance from the Helipad to the Emergency Department at SVHC. There is also a helipad at the IU Hospital located at 116th street available for use by SVHC. The Proposed new Helipad also requires transportation by Ambulance from the Helipad to the Emergency Department at SVHC. Only a small difference in transport time would be realized from the newly proposed helipad. City of Carmel, Clay Township Board of Zoning Appeals Docket No. Docket No. Docket No. Docket No. Docket No. 14070012 14070013 14070014 14070015 14070016 For Hearing Scheduled September 22, 2014 Re: Applicant St. Vincent Health, Inc. for St. Vincent Heart Center to add a Helipad facility at 10202 North Meridian Street. PETITION The undersigned petitioners, being owners and residents of The Reserve located on Spring Mill Road, oppose applicants' request to install a Helipad at 10202 North Meridian Street approximately 3 blocks south of the St. Vincent Heart Center (SVHC) which is located at 10580 N. Meridian St. Your petitioners object strenuously to the noise and danger involved with a Helipad for several reasons. Helicopters were not contemplated in 2001 when SVHC was originally approved at the Plan Commission and neighbors were promised that ambulances would turn off their sirens when entering the neighborhood. This was due to the specialized nature of the hospital; a chest pain center in lieu of a full emergency room. For these and other reasons, the neighbors did not oppose the facility. Now SVHC is claiming that a helicopter service is essential because the main St. Vincent facility on West 86th Street, which already has two dedicated landing pads, is too slow in movement of heart patients to the catherization lab once they enter the facility. The same doctors serve heart patients at both St. Vincent facilities. These doctors and their colleagues stress that the West 86th Street facility cannot be sufficiently focused on efficiently and quickly moving heart patients with Life- threatening conditions to the catherization labs. Your petitioners again respectfully submit that working with the West 86th Street St. Vincent management to streamline and expedite admitting procedures for such heart patients is a better answer than introducing a helicopter landing facility so close to a residential area. Furthermore, this was requested at BZA in September 2008 and opposed by residents. This request was rejected. This.second request is now made at this different location 3 blocks from the SVHC on the Illinois St. corridor. This is viewed as unnecessary as for a number of years SVHC has successfully utilized a Helipad at 122 "d and Pennsylvania Street 2 miles from the SVHC and we see no reason this should be changed. This requires transportation by Ambulance from the Helipad to the Emergency Department at SVHC. There is also a helipad at the IU Hospital located at 116th street available for use by SVHC. The Proposed new Helipad also requires transportation by Ambulance from the Helipad to the Emergency Department at SVHC. Only a small difference in transport time would be realized from the newly proposed helipad.