Details have emerged about plans for a new hospital to be located in Genoa Township.
A proposal by Trinity Health to expand the St. Joseph Mercy Brighton Health Center (officially called Trinity Health Medical Center – Brighton) into a full-service hospital went in front of the Genoa Township Planning Commission Monday night.
The proposal seeks to build a four-story addition that would be attached to the rear of the two-story health center allowing for 72 inpatient beds, an expanded emergency department and surgical services. They also included the potential for a birthing center, something that has not been present in Livingston County since 2010, when the previous center closed at St. Joe Mercy Hospital in Howell, now called Trinity Health Livingston Hospital.
Currently, plans are to open the new hospital by 2026, at which point it would replace the facility in Howell. The exact fate of that campus remains unresolved.
Altogether, 186,000 square feet of new space would be created, while more than 23,000 square feet of existing space would be renovated.
John O’Malley, president of St. Joseph Mercy Livingston and Brighton, told the Livingston Daily that they are still determining what medical services the proposed hospital would offer, but that whatever they decide would need to be justified by patient volume.
The planning commission, which will make a recommendation to the township’s Board of Trustees about whether or not to approve the project, tabled discussion on the proposal so that concerns about traffic flow and storm water management could better be addressed.
Planning commissioner Jeff Dhaenens told GIGO News that another item on the agenda Monday night was a high-end 204 apartment project slated for Dorr Road and Grand River Avenue.
“It was suggested the petitioner collaborate with Trinity’s traffic study,” said Dhaenens. “The township staff will help bring parties together. Both traffic studies were done (in December of 2021) before the new light / turn signal was installed at Dorr. Neither current traffic study acknowledges the other.“
