Meeting planned on Nov. 16 to discuss reuse of St. Elizabeth campus in Utica

UTICA, N.Y. — The City of Utica and Mohawk Valley Health System (MVHS) will hold a public meeting at 7 p.m. on Nov. 16 to gather comments on the future reuse of the former St. Elizabeth Medical Center.

The meeting will take place in the gymnasium at the Parkway Recreation Center at the corner of Oneida Street and the Memorial Parkway.

The reuse of St. Elizabeth “presents an incredible opportunity for the city to remake a large portion of our south Utica neighborhood,” Mayor Robert M. Palmieri said in a news release announcing the meeting. Public input on the reuse “is critical to the success of this effort from what future uses should be considered to how the future development should look to the integration of the campus into the surrounding neighborhood. I encourage all local residents to participate in this important meeting,” he added.

In June, Utica contracted with a team of consultants with experience in the reuse planning of large hospital facilities. That team, and its areas of expertise, includes the following: Rupp Pfalzgraf – legal issues including conservation easement, the state environmental quality review act (SEQRA), and zoning; Architectural Resources – architecture, concept planning, community outreach; Fisher Associates – survey, mapping, SEQRA, transportation, zoning, community outreach; C&S Companies – survey, mapping, SEQRA, transportation, zoning, community outreach; and MRB Group – market analysis.

The team has been working since June to familiarize themselves with the St. Elizabeth campus, the context of the surrounding neighborhood and the city as a whole, and past planning studies involving the campus.

Now, they hope to hear from local residents about what they feel is important to consider when developing the reuse plan for the campus, which ceased operating as a hospital on Oct. 29 when all MVHS hospital operations moved to the new Wynn Hospital in downtown Utica.

“Since the announcement of the Wynn Hospital project, MVHS has been committed to finding a use for its facilities that would be vacated once the new hospital was complete,” MVHS President/CEO Darlene Stromstad said in the release. “This partnership with the city of Utica, and now Rupp Pfalzgraf, on a master reuse plan for the St. Elizabeth campus will help evaluate options for the campus in current real-estate development conditions. Public meetings are an integral part of the reuse plan and a wonderful opportunity for the community to share its ideas for the future development of the St. Elizabeth campus.”

MVHS is also working with Oneida County on the reuse and redevelopment of the former Faxton St. Lukes campus in New Hartford.