A new lawsuit has been filed in the ongoing dispute over the construction of Broadlands Regional Medical Center (BRMC). The complaint was filed Wednesday, March 4 in the Circuit Court of Loudoun County, and alleges that the Loudoun Board of Supervisors improperly denied the special exception that would have allowed for the hospital to be built in the Ashburn community of Broadlands.
The re-activation of the prior suit against the county, or the issuance of a new complaint, was widely expected in this high profile case—an issue that has been pending for six years, since Hospital Corporation of America (HCA) and its subsidiary Northern Virginia Community Hospital (NVCH) submitted an application to the state for a Certificate of Public Need (COPN).
On its face, the lawsuit alleges several items that have already been found against the county in a prior suit. Specifically, HCA alleges that the COPN was granted by the Virginia State Health Commissioner–who has statutory authority to authorize the construction of a hospital–and should not be preempted by local government over a minor zoning issue.
However, the suit also more directly addressed the county’s Comprehensive Plan Amendment, adopted soon after HCA was granted a COPN that directed that the county’s new hospital be constructed on Route 50—away from the population center at the time, and a further distance from Inova Loudoun Hospital than the proposed site for BRMC.
After the Board of Supervisors’ Feb. 3, 2009 denial of the HCA special exception, there were some who speculated that the ongoing rivalry between HCA and Inova might come to a close. HCA announced that it would be expanding Reston Hospital, possibly using the medical bed numbers originally intended for Broadlands. For its part, Inova has announced plans for a Healthplex complex on Route 50, and has requested its own COPN for a hospital at that location.
And, just as everyone predicted, HCA keeps fighting to build their facility in Ashburn, where nobody wants it and almost nobody agrees it belongs. THEY - CAN'T - BE - TRUSTED.