The new addition exceeds the height requirement allowed by the city planning code, but a conditional use permit had been approved for the original building, the staff report said.
City Engineer Barry Conway said building plans are being prepared for submission and review. No construction date has been set as of Monday afternoon.
Kettering Health Franklin first opened in February 2015 as an emergency center and has roughly doubled its number of emergency departments since, with another emergency department under way in Springfield.
In addition to the Franklin location, Kettering Health opened a Piqua ER in 2020, a Middletown ER in 2018, an Eaton ER in 2015, and a Huber Heights ER in 2013. Kettering Health added an emergency department in 2019 attached to the network’s new Troy hospital, and is also constructing a new medical center to open in Springfield, which will have an emergency department.
Kettering’s Middletown location also allows patients to stay in the facility for more than a day and is able to offer additional services to their growing number of Middletown area patients and care for them closer to home.
Kettering Health said it sought the addition of overnight stays so patients could avoid transport to another network facility, which likely would have been further away from their homes, once they had been at the Middletown facility for 23 hours and 59 minutes.
In 2019, Middletown City Council approved a rezoning request that will allow the change, which was opposed by Premier Health, owners of the nearby Atrium Medical Center. Premier had argued that the change would create a duplication of services and increase healthcare costs.
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