Lehigh Valley Health Network is proposing a $111 million major expansion at Lehigh Valley Hospital — Cedar Crest to create “a state-of-the-art acute care facility.”

The Salisbury Township Planning Commission voted 6-1 with one abstention to table the project’s preliminary-final land development plan, presented at the July 10 meeting.

Dr. David B. Burmeister, chairman of the Department of Emergency and Hospital Medicine, told planners that in his 10 years as head of the emergency department, the number of patients using Lehigh Valley Hospital — Cedar Crest increased from 56,000 annually to 90,000 as of November 2017.

“It’s a comprehensive acute-care facility,” Burmeister said about the project.

Salisbury Township Engineer David J. Tettemer, of Keystone Consulting Engineers Inc., read from his July 3 review letter, which recommended discussion about parking lot islands and trees, parking lot improvements, FAA approval of the heliport location, 4-foot deep water that would remain in the detention pond for about five days after a rainfall and combining the preliminary and final plan.

The LVH — Cedar Crest south access road is to be relocated.

A 12-foot-high, 75-foot-wide earthen berm topped by trees is to be built roughly along the southwest area of the Lehigh Valley Hospital — Cedar Crest campus to provide noise reduction for homeowners’ residences in the vicinity. There are 104 parking spaces now with 240 parking spaces planned.

The LVH — Cedar Crest project includes an expanded adult emergency department and a new observation unit expected to open in fall 2020 and an expanded children’s emergency room and observation unit to open in 2021, according to a July 11 Lehigh Valley Health Network press release.

Pending necessary approvals, utilities relocation is to begin in October, with construction to start in December or January 2019.

Construction will not affect patients, visitors’ and EMS crews’ access to the emergency room by car or ambulance, according to Lehigh Valley Health Network officials.

New traffic patterns will have ambulances enter the hospital campus off Fish Hatchery Road.

During construction, the MedEvac helipad will be relocated to an area off Fish Hatchery Road near an employee parking lot. The helipad will be located on an elevated space above the new ambulance entrance.

Work is to be accomplished in phases. When the adult emergency room opens, the existing emergency room will be renovated to become the expanded children’s emergency room.

“Patients and families expect and deserve access to emergency care, an excellent experience when they’re in the ER and efficiency if they need to remain in the hospital for additional care following their visit,” Lehigh Valley Health Network President and Chief Executive Officer Brian Nester, D.O., MBA, FACOEP, said in a statement.

Salisbury Township Chief of Police Allen W. Stiles requested a room in the new facility to handle potentially antagonistic injured patients and their families brought to the LVH — Cedar Crest emergency room.

“We’re there on a daily basis,” Stiles said.

“For years, we’ve been asking for a room where we can take people. Now, we have to interview those persons in the waiting room. That makes us uneasy, not only for officers, but for the public and possibly puts people in danger,” Stiles said.

According to the press release, the board of trustees approved a plan to construct the 120,000-square-foot addition to the hospital’s emergency room, bringing the total size to 157,000-square-feet. The new building is to be one-story.

The expansion will bring the number of beds available to almost 200. It will include 97 adult emergency room beds (there are now 42 beds) and 26 beds in the children’s emergency room (there are now 12 beds).

The adult and children’s emergency rooms will have separate entrances and waiting areas. The expanded facility will have three trauma bays, designated diagnostic testing, laboratory and pharmacy space, behavioral health care space, large waiting areas, ample parking and more amenities for patients and families.

For patients who need additional care but do not require an inpatient hospital stay, the expansion includes a 62-bed observation unit adjacent to the emergency room, according to the press release. Keeping these patients in the new observation unit will create efficiencies and eliminate confusion by helping patients understand they’re not being admitted to the hospital, stated the press release.

The observation unit will be staffed by clinicians from the hospital unit where observation patients now receive care. The children’s emergency room will have 12 observation beds for caregivers to evaluate patients’ needs more efficiently.