Planners OK medical facility site plan concept
Mountaintop physician wants to build center on Grandview Avenue
The Daily Mail
June 16, 2009

CATSKILL — The Village of Catskill moved one step closer to bringing an urgent care center to the area Monday night when the Village Planning Board approved a Concept Site Plan for a medical facility. The address for the proposed facility will be 10 Grandview Ave., adjacent to the yet-to-be-built Lincoln Place.

Dr. Robert Schneider, of Urgent Medical Care, PLLC, and municipal planner and consultant Mark Hyer presented their concept to the Planning Board and other Village officials.

“What we propose to do down here in Catskill is provide what I feel is a much-needed care facility,” he said.

Schneider said staff at the medical center will provide acute care, trauma care, fracture care, resuscitative needs and even some obstetrical needs, including delivering babies in an emergency.

The center will employ three or four physicians, Schneider said, as well as a nurse practitioner and a physician’s assistant. The center will employ x-ray technicians and a lot of support staff, he said, adding that he hopes to hire graduates of Columbia-Greene Community College’s nursing program.

Schneider said medical staff will be trained in family medicine, pediatric care and adult life-saving procedures.

“We will be fairly equipped to do just about anything down at that facility,” he said.

The facility will be open for roughly 12 hours every day of the year.

“That is what I want to bring to Catskill,” he said, “I am very excited.”

Schneider said having an accessible facility in Catskill could cut driving time from the Mountaintop to medical care.

Schneider, who also runs the urgent trauma care center at Hunter Mountain and has a medical office in Tannersville, said he has heard from residents from several Greene County and Ulster County residents in support of his facility.

“It is well-received and I think it will be a fantastic addition to this community,” he said.

Hyer explained to the board that Schneider has proposed to pave a section of Roosevelt Avenue, which is currently unpaved, at his own expense but under the supervision of the village DPW superintendent.

Hyer said the road will allow ambulances to reach the facility through an entrance off Roosevelt Avenue and leave onto Lincoln Place before heading to Grandview Avenue via Roosevelt Avenue.

Directional arrows on the pavement will indicate the traffic flow, he said.

Although the full lighting plan has not been developed, Hyer said, lights in the parking lot will have a full shield and will be turned off while the facility is closed.

“That will minimize any impact on the neighbors and the rest of the area,” he said.

Hyer said the plan will include aborvitae screening along the parking lot. The lot will accommodate at least 12 cars, he said.

Hyer said the building will be at least 3,000-square-feet in size, handicapped-accessible and will be painted with either neutral or earth-tone colors, although its final plans have not been worked out.

“It will blend in with the character of the neighborhood,” he said.

Catskill Village Planning Board Chairman William Zwoboda said he was looking forward to seeing the project’s final plans.

“Urgent care is needed very greatly in our community,” Zwoboda said.

The Planning Board set a public hearing for the Site Plan for July 6, at 7 p.m.