Zoning Approval Allows Tulsa Healthcare Provider To Look Towards Future

Saint John Medical Center has big plans for the future. And, Wednesday, the Tulsa Planning Commission gave its approval to help move that vision forward.

Richard Boone, the president of the growing healthcare provider, said they've been working on this for years. Now, with the OK from the planning commission, he said this really opens a lot of doors to new possibilities.

“We are preparing ourselves for the future needs of St. John,” Boone said.

He said those needs include more outpatient, rehab and senior services - especially with the aging baby boomer population - and an overhaul of the main tower, which was built in 1976.

The new zoning code, spurred by Plan It Tulsa, is specifically for medical and educational services in the City of Tulsa.

“A lot more trauma and referrals coming in from all over the region,” Boone said. “We have referrals from a five-state region – Kansas, Missouri, Arkansas and all of Oklahoma.”

This is an early step towards the repairs and renovations for the Utica campus with Boone saying there are no official development plans right now.

Neighbors said they've been kept in the loop, and the new zoning code helps them rest a little easier at night knowing there are specific boundaries on what St. John can and cannot do.

“They worked with neighbors individually, and what our ideas were and what our concerns were,” said nearby resident Chip Atkins. “We know exactly what is written and what can be done across the street now.”

It’s a compromise of sorts - working towards an idea to help expand one of the state’s largest medical centers.

Atkins said, “I feel this is great for Tulsa because we have this big company that is working with neighbors to show that Tulsa does work.”

"We are there to provide the best health care we can, and sometimes we need to change in order to provide that,” Boone said.

With the zoning approval, St. John becomes the first of its kind with this designation.