#18 - Birth and Haven - Laserfiche WebLink

Home Browse Search

3 of one unit per 40 acres. Future residential development may occur at the aforementioned density or through the open-space preservation development process. These parcels are expected to be served by on-site wastewater treatment facilities. In addition, some limited agriculture-related businesses, such as wayside stands and outdoor recreation, are appropriate short-term or interim uses for this district. Staff have required that the Applicant provide narrative and information on the proposed land uses. Fundamentally, this request breaks into two separate land uses proposed to be on the same site. Those uses are described using the applicant’s narrative, below: 1. Birth Center: An accredited freestanding birth center offers pregnant women an option for a place to give birth in a residential-type setting, away from their own home, where they can have the benefit of being attended by professional nurses and midwives. Birth centers avoid the use of pharmaceutical and surgical intervention in delivery, with an emphasis on letting the natural processes of birth take place. When a complication that requires more drastic intervention happens for a laboring patient at a birth center, the patient is transferred to a nearby hospital for continuing care. Such intrapartum transfers occur in between 2-10% of birth center births and are most successful when occurring in an integrated healthcare system where the birth center works in coordination with other providers of obstetric care 2. Postpartum Recovery Care Center: In addition to the birth center, we propose the addition of a postpartum recovery care center on the same site. In the proposed use of the property at 5193 Keats, this would operate in conjunction with the birth center to offer new parents a place to recuperate and rest following delivery. Currently, regulations for birth centers require patients to check out within 6 hours of delivery, to go home with their new infant. However, many new parents would benefit from having an option for a place to go and acclimate to parenthood in a supportive environment where they would still have access to care professionals including midwives, lactation consultants, and people equipped to look after the baby while parents catch up on needed rest. Birth Centers are regulated by Minnesota State Statutes, Section 144.615, and are defined as follows: "Birth center" means a facility licensed for the primary purpose of performing low-risk deliveries that is not a hospital or licensed as part of a hospital and where births are planned to occur away from the mother's usual residence following a low-risk pregnancy. Minnesota statutes regulating Birth Centers create a licensing process which involves an application process, requirement of certification by the Commission for the Accreditation of Birth Centers (CABC), requires yearly renewals. If Birth Centers lose their CABC accreditation, or do not meet the State’s other standards for licensure, they are subject to losing their license. In a review of metro area zoning ordinances related to the two proposed uses, staff only identified the use, birth center, in the City of Minneapolis’ zoning ordinance within the use group of medical facilities. It is likely that this use, while not defined in area codes, is categorized similarly by most communities. The City of Lake Elmo’s definition for medical facilities (LEC 105.12.110) would appear to include the use, birth center: