After three years of fielding public opinion and weighing scientific analyses, the state’s transportation agency has given its blessing to the Children’s Memorial Hospital heliport.

Last week, the Illinois Department of Transportation announced that it would grant operating rights to Children’s Memorial for the emergency helicopter landing pad atop the hospital’s nearly-completed facility, the Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children’s Hospital of Chicago at 225 E. Chicago Ave.

The agency’s decision was based on “an extensive technical analysis” and a public hearing process on the application which began in 2008.

“After a comprehensive review, I am confident that the application submitted by Ann & Robert H. Lurie’s Children’s Hospital meets or exceeds all legal and safety requirements needed for a certificate of approval from the State of Illinois,” IDOT Director of Aviation Dr. Susan Shea said in a written statement released Friday.

“The department also considered thousands of public comments and sought the opinions of independent experts,” the statement read.

The hospital, which has operated out of a facility in Lincoln Park for more than 20 years, is slated to relocate to the new 22-story building in Streeterville in June 2012.

“This approval from IDOT provides us the authority to begin our own rigorous program of evaluating and refining our procedures, equipment and operations,” said Patrick Magoon, president and CEO of Children’s Memorial. The hospital said that it had submitted 20,000 letters of support for the heliport at a July 2009 public hearing.

The agency’s approval seems to mark a turning point in the long, often contemptuous public debate between the hospital and a vocal group of residents who have questioned whether the heliport will be a risk to public safety in the skyscraper-rich area.

Those doubts have been led by the Streeterville Organization of Active Residents, a non-profit neighborhood group that has challenged the proposal since it was first introduced in 2007. In its campaign against the heliport, SOAR has hired lawyers, wind experts and helicopter pilots to prove that wind conditions around the building are unsafe for helicopter flight.

After winning swift construction and operating approvals from both the city and the Federal Aviation Administration, the hospital hit a snag when SOAR convinced IDOT to host a series of public hearings in order to debate the safety aspects surrounding the hospital’s application.

SOAR eventually presented its own round of studies pointing to inconsistencies in the proposal, but those findings were offset by a state-commissioned report which predicted that wind conditions around the heliport would not cause an aircraft to lose control while attempting to land on the building.

But the 102-page study, released in late May, stopped short of deeming the heliport safe and ultimately concluded that that further research should be conducted before IDOT made a decision on the hospital’s application. The research team tapped for the study executed a number of test flights above the hospital in late spring.

At a round of hearings held to discuss the report in June, experts hired by SOAR questioned the technology and methods used to find evidence in the study.

“It would be reckless … to allow flights at this heliport without any verifiable information about the wind conditions [around the building],” said Richard Porter, an attorney for SOAR.

Following IDOT’s announcement last week, the group stated that it would continue to bear down on the heliport proposal, despite its recently gained approval.

In an emailed statement on Monday, SOAR board member Patty Frost said that “many serious and significant safety issues and concerns raised by SOAR’s experts still remain.”

“[This includes] the absence of legitimate available emergency landing areas per the City of Chicago’s Municipal Code, the escape route into a surrounding high rise (Water Tower Place), and the ability of the pilots to have accurate site-based wind and weather information from which to make decisions,” said Frost.

She stated that SOAR “strongly disagrees with IDOT’s decision,” adding that the group plans to initiate an appeal of the approval.

IDOT issued its preliminary approval of the hospital’s application in April 2009.

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By sore from stville
Posted: 10/24/2011 10:23 AM

What time is the daily nonstop to the Horseshoe?

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By Boyee from Mid-North
Posted: 10/22/2011 12:34 PM

This is good news. It is critical for emergency medical procedures that the new hospital has a functioning helipad