Intermountain has a contract to buy 70 acres of farmland along the railroad tracks, just east of the new FrontRunner commuter-rail station on Main Street.
Though turbulent financial markets and economic uncertainty could affect a final decision, Intermountain expects to buy the property by midsummer, according to Tom Hanrahan, vice president for the Urban North region.
A hospital, if one is built, is likely five years away. "We're at a very preliminary stage," Hanrahan said today.
Davis County is now served by two hospitals: Lakeview in Bountiful and Davis Hospital Medical Center in Layton.
Intermountain's would be a community hospital, with perhaps 50 to 75 beds, not a large medical center like LDS Hospital in Salt Lake City and McKay-Dee, he said.
The company's market research indicates 60 percent of Davis County residents leave the county for hospital care, and it's not just for highly specialized procedures, Hanrahan said. "People leave the county for pretty straightforward needs," the kind that could be met by a community hospital, he said.
The growing demand by Davis County residents for services at McKay-Dee is one reason Intermountain is contemplating a Layton hospital, he said.
"That has put a demand on the facility that we hadn't planned on," he said. Davis residents account for 20 percent of the Ogden hospital's patients.
The hospital would be within walking distance of the FrontRunner Station, which would be a plus for employees and for the community, he said.
Neighbors of the proposed hospital, invited to an informational meeting with Intermountain executives tonight, were not so sure they want the traffic a hospital could bring.
"I'm not real thrilled," said Danielle Scothern. "We like our old, little neighborhood."
Though the site Intermountain is poised to buy is farmland, it is surrounded by neighborhoods.
