Last September, Martha’s Vineyard Hospital CEO Tim Walsh told The Times that the no-longer-used emergency room in the old hospital building was being renovated for use as a walk-in clinic, to address the longstanding shortage of noncritical health care on Martha’s Vineyard. Mr. Walsh said the goal was to have the walk-in clinic operational by this summer. But although summer is well underway, Oak Bluffs Building Inspector Mark Barbadoro has yet to issue a building permit for the new clinic.
“There were a number of issues that needed to be resolved,” Mr. Barbadoro told The Times. “The initial problem was that in their haste, they gutted the place. I guess they thought they could just knock down 5,000 square feet of the building without consequence, but they really weren’t prepared in terms of having an actual functional plan.” Mr. Barbadoro said as an example, the wiring from the emergency generator was not up to code. “Critical branch wiring has to be fire-rated, and it wasn’t,” he said. “They literally had to dig it all out about a month ago.”
Mr. Barbadoro said the permitting process for building a health care facility requires understanding complicated building codes. For instance, there are different codes for “hospitals” and for “other health care facilities.” “It’s a very complicated process, and it can be difficult to get it right,” he said. “I also think they were expecting to get the kind of permitting they used to get around here. I was trying to push them to a higher standard, and caught them off guard a little bit.”
Mr. Barbadoro said the Massachusetts Department of Public Health (DPH) adds an additional layer of requirements. “Luckily they have a really smart architect, who’s working his way through it.”
“There were some issues, disagreements about what was to code, like the shielding of the wires, and how the alarms would sound in different places, but things are getting resolved,” Project Engineer John Lolley told The Times. “I think we’ll hit the ground running once we get our permit.” Mr. Lolley expressed a high degree of confidence in the construction company of record, Columbia Construction from North Reading. “I’ve worked with Columbia before,” he said. “I’ve had nothing but good experiences with them. They’re an excellent high-end contractor.”
Mr. Lolley was brought in late last summer when work revealed more damage to the building than expected, primarily the result of a notoriously leaky roof. “The frame was wood, and it was built over 40 years ago. It needed help,” he said.
Last week the Oak Bluffs planning board gave final approval to Mr. Lolley’s site plan for two new parking lots that will service the walk-in clinic and supplement hospital parking. “I’m working full-bore to have the plans finished by the end of the week,” he said.
Mr. Barbadoro said the completion of Mr. Lolly’s engineering plan, and final architectural drawings, were the last two items needed to issue the building permit approval. “The architect on a project this size is the point person who collects all the information that’s required to get a building permit,” he said. “Hopefully they’ll give me what I need. I’m anxious for them to get started.”
In a conversation with The Times on Wednesday, Steve VanNess, partner in charge of the project from Steffian Bradley Architects in Boston, said that the drawings are still in progress, and gave no time frame for their completion. “We want to make sure we’re meeting all the needs of the hospital,” he said.