Community Medical Center, May 2022. (Photo: Daniel Nee)
Representatives from Community Medical Center will appear before the Toms River planning board in June to propose a major expansion and renovation of the hospital, planning documents made public this week say.
The hospital, which is introducing a medical residency program, is seeking a development permit to modify its facilities master plan as part of the expansion effort. The hospital is seeking to expand the existing facility, “primarily to increase the number of private single-bed rooms, address current and future space requirements for various departments of the hospital, facilitate the hospital’s Graduate Medical Education Program, and orient the hospital to Route 37,” the proposal states.
The plan, specifically, includes:
- An increase of the total campus size from 38.1 acres to 41.5 acres by subsuming a neighboring lot.
- An increase of the hospital’s size from 711,897 square feet to 1,053,327 square feet.
- Demolition of the current 146,500 square foot parking garage and construction of a new 171,000 square foot garage.
- An increase in the number of parking spaces throughout the campus from 1,456 to 1,759.
- Construction of a 48,000 s.f. central utility plant.
The development application calls for the hospital to complete the improvements in phases.
In Phase I, the hospital proposes to demolish the existing visitor parking garage and install surface parking, then construct a new, six-level visitor parking garage and central utility plant.
In Phase II, the hospital expansion will be completed, which will result in the addition to the hospital of six floors and approximately 340,000 square feet. The third phase proposes “micro-phased interior renovations and alterations” to the existing hospital. Lastly, the fourth phase consists of the construction of a freestanding medical office and ambulatory care building.
Community Medical Center, May 2022. (Photo: Daniel Nee)
The hospital’s representatives will submit preliminary and final site plan applications to the planning for approval on a phase-by-phase basis, the planning documents state.
The last major expansion to the hospital came in the 1980s, with the construction of the parking garage and extra floors. The original Community Memorial Hospital opened in 1961 with just 50 beds and 15 physicians. It now consists of 592 beds.
The hospital, which is now a subsidiary of RWJBarnabas Health, is being represented by Peter Carton, a Newark-based attorney from the firm Gibbons , P.C. The application will be heard by the board at its June 1 meeting, which is scheduled for 6 p.m. at the township municipal complex on Washington Street.
