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When PeaceHealth's volunteer Governing Board chose the RiverBend site for a new regional medical center, one of the first steps its members took was to adopt environmental stewardship principles to guide development of the site. PeaceHealth proceeded to voluntarily conduct detailed site studies, resulting in research of a depth and quantity that far exceeds the state's most stringent requirements.
To safeguard RiverBend's natural environment and to assure that its beauty is preserved for both enjoyment and healing, PeaceHealth has made some important commitments: |
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- The project conserves land area by proposing zoning that allows housing and other commercial uses in the same building, supported by diverse transportation options.
- The site will feature a compatible mix of uses within convenient walking distances and access to the high-capacity Bus Rapid Transit corridor. Nearly 30 acres of open space is retained on the 160-acre site. Much of this area is within the McKenzie River floodway, but also includes generous buffers from existing development to the west and south; additional area to conserve significant tree groves; cultivated gardens; and meadow areas east and west of the hospital.
- At its closest point, the hospital is at least 425 feet from the top of
riverbank, more than the length of a football field and greater than five times the Springfield standard of a minimum 75-foot building setback. PeaceHealth will establish a 100-foot average riparian setback, preserving all natural vegetation along a 100-foot-wide strip of riverbank.
- Rooftop gardens feature "eco-roofs" that use and reclaim storm water runoff, and provide green space to be enjoyed by patients and caregivers.
- More than 85 percent of the Douglas fir grove adjacent to the river will be
preserved, and replacement trees will be planted. Other large tree groves will be essentially retained. Within 10 years of project completion, the site is projected to have a 50 percent net increase in tree canopy.
- A riverside multi-use trail will wind into the riparian area only at discrete visual "windows" onto the riverfront. Trail lighting is designed to be pedestrian-scaled and equipped with cut-off fixtures to avoid glare, unnecessary light dispersal, and negative impacts on wildlife habitat. The riverside trail will be part of more than 2.5 miles of on- and off-street sidewalks and trails throughout the site.
- Project designs incorporate best management practices that meet or exceed city standards to treat storm water runoff. Clean roof runoff is returned to shallow aquifers, and runoff from roads and parking lots is treated using both biological and mechanical means. There will be no direct runoff to the McKenzie River. All runoff will be directed away from the river and treated before it leaves the site.
- Extensive parking area landscaping in excess of code requirements will lower the temperature of runoff that is treated and discharged to the river.
- Unprecedented analysis of three miles of McKenzie River floodplain reveals that a fully constructed campus at RiverBend would, in a worst-case scenario, result in an increase of less than one inch in base flood elevations off-site - far less than the one-foot maximum permitted by law. The hospital and emergency roadways will be built well above the Federal Emergency Management Agency's 500-year flood level.
- The new hospital will be constructed to meet current seismic
standards, which neither existing local hospital now meets. It is likely to be the only hospital in the region to withstand a major earthquake, and to be immediately usable after such an event.
- The hospital building design provides substantial natural daylight to enhance the patient experience and help reduce energy-consuming artificial lighting.