Helicopter landing site will have to wait

Winfield trustees stalled a plan Thursday by Central DuPage Hospital to move its emergency room helicopter pad across the street from the hospital's sprawling campus.

Hospital officials are moving the helicopter landing site on the west side of Winfield Road to make room for a new five-story wing with 202 private rooms and adjacent parking. The expansion project is expected to cost $235 million.

The helicopter site would be located on the property of the former Frank's Family Foods grocery store, which the hospital purchased in January 2002.

The former grocery store property is also part of a roughly 19-acre area village officials are eyeing as a potential redevelopment site for its tiny downtown.

Erik Sander, a Chicago-based architect representing Central DuPage, told trustees on Thursday the hospital was seeking permission to operate a temporary helicopter site on the grocery store property to expedite the construction of the hospital wing and parking area.

The hospital would then seek permission from the village later this year to build a permanent helicopter pad on the same property.

Trustees, however, said they didn't have enough information on the specifics of the new landing site.

They told Sander the hospital would have to wait at least another month before Central DuPage would be able to present its plans to the village's plan commission.

The plan commission "already has a backlog of cases it hasn't had time to handle," Trustee Deborah Birutis said.

While Central DuPage Hospital officials hope to start construction of the new wing by the fall of 2008, the expansion project first must be approved by the Illinois Health Facilities Planning Board. The hospital is expected to present its case before the state agency sometime next month.