St. Luke’s has received conditional final approval to move forward with a medical office building attached to its main hospital in Franklin Township.

Supervisors on Tuesday granted that approval once all of the comments from Carbon Engineering are addressed, and they work out how many Equivalent Dwelling Units will be needed.

Additionally, supervisors granted a 30-day time extension for the St. Luke’s Medical Office Building Land Development Plan, and also approved the St. Luke’s Medical Office Building’s revised note.

After some back and forth, the board approved a pair of waiver requests, one under a section of the township’s subdivision and land development ordinance, and the other under the township’s stormwater management ordinance.

Bob Martin, Senior Vice President, St. Luke’s University Health Network, said the plan was to install flow meters. Martin was joined by Attorney Joseph Bubba, and Scott Pasterski, engineer.

It was estimated that St. Luke’s would need about one EDU per every 10 employees. It expects to have about 85 employees.

However, Supervisors’ Chairman Fred Kemmerer said he had a problem with flow meters.

“Our system, the way it’s set up, isn’t that way,” Kemmerer said. “This is unchartered territory for us.”

The township’s flow is 262.5 gallons.

Kemmerer said that he believes the state Department of Environmental Protection will allow the township to go as high as 69 EDUs.

Further, Kemmerer said it isn’t in the township’s ordinance.

Supervisor Jason Frey backed Kemmerer up.

“Our past practice is we go by the number of people,” Frey said. “We got to go by past practice, and what we did for their businesses, we (have) to do for you.”

Frey reiterated the township’s stance.

“We’re going to have everybody coming in saying, ‘we want to use flow meters,’?” he said. “We have to go by past practice.”

Kemmerer told St. Luke’s he understood its position.

“Your thoughts of the flow makes sense,” he said. “We’re not at that point.”

In February, supervisors tabled the revised office building land development and subdivision plans.

At issue was that St. Luke’s didn’t have the setbacks for the medical office building, and had to apply for a variance concerning the setbacks.

The board did, however at that time grant St. Luke’s a 60-day time extension until April 7 for the plan.

Plans call for a three-story, 60,000-square-foot medical office building to be built on 30.5 acres between the St. Luke’s Carbon Campus and down toward Reber Street.

The medical office building will be connected to the hospital by a walkway. The facility is expected to be opened in early 2023.

It will include cancer, cardiac, orthopedics care, pain management and physical therapy services and physicians’ offices, along with a full fitness center.

St. Luke’s University Health Network opened the doors to its $80 million Carbon campus on Nov. 20.

The new three-story, 80-patient-room site is located near the intersection of Harrity and Fairyland roads.

The 160,000-square-foot facility is the centerpiece of the network’s new 108-acre technologically advanced, multipurpose, rural medical and wellness complex.