UPMC urgent care center in Shadyside draws residents' fire
The University of Pittsburgh Medical Center's decision to open an urgent care facility in Shadyside has neighborhood groups questioning whether the facility has gone through the full process required for approval.
Members of the Baum Center Initative claim UPMC is trying to force an opening of the facility before issues on its use can be addressed, said Lenore Williams, chairwoman of the group that represents about 10 community, business and religious groups.
"We have followed all proper procedures in obtaining the permits for this facility," UPMC said in a statement.
UPMC officials told members of the Pittsburgh Planning Commission during a briefing Tuesday that it plans to open the facility at 5231 Centre Ave. on Dec. 14.
A public hearing by the commission is scheduled for Dec. 8.
Attorney William Sittig Jr., representing UPMC, who spoke at the briefing, said a permit has already been issued by the city for a medical office at the Centre Avenue site, which will permit its use for outpatient treatment by medical personnel.
A similar operation, by the Baum-Med Group, not affiliated with UPMC, is planned at 5201 Baum Blvd., Bloomfield, and is scheduled to open in January.
Community members contend the facility, to be known as UPMC Shadyside Urgent Care Center, is an extension of services already offered at UPMC Shadyside hospital.
UPMC Urgent Care at Shadyside is the first of multiple urgent care centers that is expected to open in this region to treat patients, UPMC said.
"They are shoving this project down our throats," said Kenneth R. Stiles, representing the Friendship Preservation group, at a meeting of the Baum-Centre Initiative last week. "This is institutional creeping because UPMC would use a building across Centre Avenue from its Shadyside Hospital location, and that would expand its campus."
Andy Zins, owner/operator of Cafe Sam, a restaurant at 5242 Baum Blvd., said establishment of an urgent care facility there "probably would not allow me to survive."
He fears a medical facility there would discourage customers from using his 20-year old restaurant.
Sittig said UPMC has agreed to appear before the Pittsburgh Zoning Board of Adjustment on Dec. 3 to seek approval to combine several parcels along Baum, which it owns, to expand a parking lot from 12 spaces to about 81. At that hearing it also wants approval to install a self-illuminated 20-foot high, 6-by-9.6-foot wide identification sign on Baum.
"We have been listening to the community regarding our parking lot expansion plan and have made significant changes to include landscaping, a wrought-iron fence, relocating the entrance to the lot from Baum Blvd. further away from Cafe Sam, and reducing the size of our sign," said Wendy Zellner, a UPMC spokeswoman.
