ARLINGTON — The start of construction for Cascade Valley Hospital’s new helispot was met with some criticisms Nov. 2, as two neighbors addressed the City Council with concerns.

Jesse Scott and Brian White both have homes on Medical Center Drive. White is also chairman of the Norwood Glen Condominiums.

“This morning, I walked out my door to find the earth moving,” said Scott, who received a letter notifying him of construction Nov. 2. “It doesn’t seem like they care about the folks who live around here.”

White read about construction over the weekend, but criticized the vague description of the helispot’s location.

Like Scott, he argued the hospital’s neighbors should have sent prior notice much sooner, preferably through a community meeting with a period for public comment.

Heather Logan, assistant administrator of the hospital, later clarified that the helispot will occupy a 1,600-square-foot space east of S. Stillaguamish Avenue and north of E. Highland Drive.

This space is currently a grassy field, with several trees that are being cut down as part of the first phase of construction, which is expected to last no longer than six weeks.

“We’ve had some of those trees blow over and come down on cars in the parking lot during heavy windstorms, so this is a bonus,” Logan said.

Logan confirmed what city administrator Paul Ellis told Scott and White during the council meeting, that the helispot is small enough to fall within the existing hospital zoning, and is therefore exempt from any permitting or public hearing requirements.

The hospital did secure permits from the Federal Aviation Administration and the Public Utility District.

Construction will include ground work, installing a concrete pad, painting and lighting.

Currently, patients needing air transport are driven to Arlington Municipal Airport by medic units.

Logan had intended to get word out to the community two weeks prior to the start of construction, which was originally scheduled for Nov. 16, but when the contractor reported it was ready to start work early, the hospital didn’t want to pass up the opportunity.

When Scott suggested building the helispot at a different location, one that he estimated would add only a few minutes to EMS crews’ trips, council member Chris Raezer made the same assertion that Jennifer Egger, community relations coordinator for the hospital, would reiterate later, that a few extra minutes can mean the difference between life and death.

“We’re dealing with the critically ill and injured, and everything from pregnancies to strokes,” Egger said. “When we’re transporting patients to the Harborview stroke center, just that much more time could result in permanent brain damage.”

To make the construction period more convenient, work will be limited to daylight hours during weekdays.

Another concern Scott voiced was about how motorists’ visibility would be impacted by bright helicopter lights during heavy rain or darkness.

Ellis and Logan both noted that the hospital’s current volume of helicopter flights is no more than two a month, with Logan adding that not all of those flights take place at night.

“Besides, this has been a hospital zone for decades, with the noises and lights of ambulances and other emergency traffic,” Logan said. “Those helicopters certainly won’t be any brighter than the football stadium we’ve been using as a temporary landing pad for them.”

Indeed, Ellis and Logan both reminded the community that the football stadium had only been intended as a temporary landing pad for helicopters.

“This is a replacement for the helispot that we already had and lost, when the hospital was renovated a few years ago,” Logan said. “We empathize with our neighbors and don’t want to diminish their concerns, but our whole focus here is on ensuring better patient outcomes and safety.”