VERO BEACH — A new hospital could be on the horizon for Indian River County, but county commissioners are still weighing how the proposed facility could fit within existing development rules.
At a recent meeting, commissioners began discussing the possibility of a medical facility near State Road 60 and 66th Avenue. Developing the site for a modern hospital would require changes to the county's comprehensive plan and land development regulations.
Dylan Reingold, an attorney speaking on behalf of the project, said the scale of the proposed facility would require the county to reconsider its current development limits.
"But our goal with regards to this idea is if we want to have a serious medical facility at this location. The honest discussion we need to have is you're looking at something like five stories tall, 250,000 square feet," he said. "That's just the modern dynamics of a hospital."
Structures in the area are currently limited to 35 feet in height and 60,000 square feet. County staff recommended increasing the allowable square footage to accommodate the proposed hospital through a special exemption.
County Attorney Jennifer Shuler, however, raised concerns about how such an exception could interact with other state laws and regulations, including the Live Local Act.
"For example, certain parcels, everything within a mile radius of them now is maybe entitled to that height. It might be a different set of rules if it's adjacent to residential," she said. "There's just all these layers of the Live Local Act that without having more information in front of you when you have this conceptual conversation, it's hard to really give you better advice about it."
Height emerged as one of the central points of disagreement during the discussion. Commissioner Joseph Flescher said he believes the proposed hospital should be smaller.
"There's no denying it. A hospital is well needed. The citizens deserve a hospital facility. No denying that at all," he said. "But they're a highly successful hospital operation at three stories and four stories."
Tim Zorc, a former county commissioner who also spoke on behalf of the project, said limiting the building's height could create additional challenges and require more variances.
"And then I'm going to be asking for five other variances to spread 250,000 square feet of a hospital over two floors. They own a total of 75 acres. I don't know if you could fit it on 75 acres when you have to make it a mile wide and two stories high," he said.
Commissioner Joseph Earman supported increasing the allowable square footage but said the question of height could be addressed at a later stage of the process.
"I think it is actually premature to talk about the height limit right now. You got to set the groundwork and then go from there. I mean, this thing's got to be designed. It's got to have everything in it," he said. "There's a long ways to go on here."
The discussion also touched on the need for another hospital in the community. Zorc pointed to a 2025 report as evidence of what he described as a shortage of hospital beds in the area.
"When you take Brevard County and St. Lucie County, you take their number of rooms in their population. We're 108 beds short, according to the Bieber report of April 2025," he said.
Commissioners agreed on the need for a third hospital in the community but were not comfortable moving forward without further discussion about the proposed height.
The board is scheduled to revisit the issue at its Oct. 6 meeting and determine how to proceed.