The Santa Clarita Planning Commission approved the much contested 25-year expansion plan for the Henry Mayo Newhall Memorial Hospital (HMNMH) in Valencia by a 3-2 vote this week. The proposal will now go to the Santa Clarita City Council for final approval. Residents of Valencia Summit and surrounding neighborhoods are concerned about the increase in traffic and the likelihood of the use of eminent domain to widen roads in the area to accomodate the expansion. Smart Growth SCV has been very vocal in fighting the expansion, stating that there will be very few beds added to the hospital and that the expansion will mostly be for office space. The HMNMH hospital developers have made some concessions to the local residents by reducing the height of some buildings and eliminating one proposed building, but Smart Growth SCV claims that this is not enough. Hospital officials say that the expansion plan would allow for an expansion in cardiac care, a new women's center and a neonatal intensive care unit, all services that are currently unavailable in the SCV. Critics say that the expansion provides mainly for office space, and not for the much touted additional beds and facilities that were the key selling points of the plan. Hospital officials have prepared a fact sheet showing the original proposal and the modified proposal to encourage residents to support their expansion plan. | 
