By Jennifer Eisenbart
Editor
While the announcement last week that Aurora Health Care would invest a significant amount of money in the Burlington area comes as a relief to most, there are still a number of questions to be answered in the next six months.
Calling it a “due diligence” period at last week’s press conference, Aurora Strategic Communications Counsel Adam Beeson stressed Tuesday that those six months will be a period of putting details into place.
“This is a period to build our plans for the facilities and verify that there aren’t any unexpected issues with the land,” Beeson said.
The land to which Beeson is referring to is a 70-acre parcel of land bordered Spring Valley Road, Highway 36 and the Burlington bypass.
While initial indications are that will be an ambulatory surgery site, how large that facility will be, how many staff will be employed there and what kinds of services will be shifted there from both Aurora Memorial Hospital of Burlington and Lakeland Hospital near Elkhorn are unclear.
When asked about the possible return of obstetrics to the Burlington hospital, Beeson said only, “We do not have any service changes to announce.”
While the OB ward has been a major sticking point for City of Burlington in the last year-plus – Mayor Bob Miller has said time and again that he wants a full-service hospital in the city – there is still reason to celebrate.
On the surface, Miller said, it looks like Aurora has made a commitment to Burlington and the immediate area for years to come.
City Administrator Kevin Lahner agreed.
“It suggests that it’s very well thought out,” Lahner said. “I think it’s a plan that’s pretty solid.”
In the meantime, there will be plenty of details to iron out. Among the items that will have to be addressed is the annexation of that property, which is currently in the Town of Lyons, by the City of Burlington.
Because of a previous annexation of Walworth County land to the Burlington Municipal Airport, Aurora will not have to seek approval from the Town of Lyons to start the annexation process.
Both Miller and Lahner stressed the city would not be taking anything, and that Aurora would file the petition to start the process once it closes on the sale of the property. The annexation would provide needed services like city water and sewer to the new facility.
There are three lift station alternatives that the city’s engineering firm, Kapur and Associates, will be considering in that move, and there will also need to be a rezoning of that land. Miller also said at the press conference last week that no incentives had been offered to Aurora.
The city will also have to work out how to finance or bill for the work that brings those services out to that area – a decision that will be weighed by the City Council.
“That’s all still being worked on,” said Miller. When asked, Lahner said a tax incremental finance district could be considered, but that the city would need to apply for an exception from the state, since it will be overlapping by a few years with its TIF cap.
There are several options, Miller has stressed, but the overall goal of preparing the site for the surgery center and clinic is possible.
“There are going to be some hills to be climbed,” Miller said Friday. “(But) everything that needs to be done, can be.”
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