LARNED — With 114 parking spaces originally allotted for Pawnee Valley Community Hospital and Pawnee Valley Medical Associates when the new hospital building was completed, no one would have imagined that three years later the hospital would have already outgrown their parking needs.
“This is a great problem to have,” said John Hughes, PVCH administrator. “The number of people utilizing our facilities continues to grow while we continue to add new healthcare services. With this in mind, we need to make sure that we have adequate parking for our patients, visitors and staff.”
Plans for a new parking lot, located north of the Pawnee Valley Medical Associates at the corner of Carroll Avenue and Eleventh Street, have been in the works for some time. The new lot will add 42 spaces.
Before the lot could be constructed one house had to be removed from the property while a basement house was demolished. Following house removal, foundations, utilities and trees were removed from the lot.
Surveying has been done and the Pawnee County Commissioners have approved the initial architectural drawings. PVCH is now waiting for the final design to be completed with all of the specs.
On July 7, the plan has been taken before the Larned City Council for their approval. The job goes out for bids, including bidding for both a concrete parking lot and an asphalt one. This way the Pawnee County Commissioners can compare the two bids and weigh the pro and cons of using either type of material in the construction.
The estimated completion date for the parking lot is the end of summer. Once completed, associates from both Pawnee Valley Medical Associates along with Pawnee Valley Community Hospital will be able to utilize the new parking spaces, which will in turn open up additional parking for our patients