When the Visiting Nurse Association purchased the 14.5 acres of land it had long leased under its Hospice House for $3.8 million in 2024, the VNA failed to formalize its historic use of a retention pond next door with a drainage easement – a detail which could now cost the Vero nonprofit $1 million.

For decades, the VNA had leased the property on 37th Street and instead of having its own stormwater retention pond, used one on the adjacent Cleveland Clinic campus. That caused no issues because all the land belonged to the Indian River County Hospital District and was permitted under one master plan.

But now, the VNA plans to construct a two-building permanent headquarters on the site next to its recently renovated Hospice House, and move out of nearby leased office space. Should the VNA need to construct its own retention pond on site, that would cost between $800,000 and $1 million, plus pond maintenance, and might require scaling back the buildings.

Whether or not to issue one or more drainage easements to the VNA has been a topic of discussion this summer and fall before the Hospital District.

In May, the VNA’s longtime attorney Bill Stewart approached hospital district legal counsel Jennifer Peshke about the district signing on as a co-applicant to paperwork being filed with the St. Johns River Water Management District.

Peshke told hospital district trustees at the June 18 chairman’s meeting, “The VNA wants to move forward with their architectural plans for the parcel that they purchased from the district, which is, of course, in the spirit of the agreement between the parties, what we want them to be able to do.

“They need to secure a letter from the district ... They would like to be able to access our retention ponds rather than adding another retention pond to any parcel that they have purchased,” she said. “Because, of course, adding a third retention pond would take away from the usage of the parcel that they purchased and, you know, diminish what they can build.”

Peshke said she had asked the VNA’s hired engineer Todd Howard if the hospital district and Cleveland Clinic would have enough retention pond capacity with what the VNA planned to build.  “Todd answered that as yes,” she said. “So regardless of future development, no one is precluded from expanding based on the need for more retention ponds.”

Peshke asked for the trustees’ approval to co-sign on the letter based upon the opinions of the VNA’s engineer, the VNA’s lawyer and the supporting documents examined by the trustees, and that was granted. All but Trustee Paul Westcott, a civil litigation attorney, voted in favor.

Westcott, however, expressed concern that any major changes might impact the fact that the hospital district property was grandfathered into St. Johns stormwater retention regulations from the 1980s – not today’s restrictions.

Upon Westcott’s urging, the hospital district hired its own engineer to research the situation. He reported back in October that if St. Johns determined any planned development to be a major plan amendment rather than a minor one, the entire campus would need to be brought up to the current stormwater retention code.

When contacted by Vero Beach 32963 on Oct. 31, VNA CEO Lundy Fields did not have a great explanation for why the drainage easement had not been secured at closing, but he did explain the VNA was anxious to get this cleared up now. 

Fields said the VNA had been following discussions of the planned Edward Via College of Osteopathic Medicine facility adjacent to Cleveland Clinic on Hospital District property.

VCOM leases a three-story building once occupied by the VNA and the five acres it sits on from the hospital district, and it must invest $5 million in the next five years in capital improvements.

Fields said the VNA wanted to get its drainage rights squared away prior to VCOM starting on any building expansions for the medical school.

So far, what the VNA says it’s planning to build would most likely be considered a minor plan amendment by St. Johns.  But the VCOM medical school expansion or a Cleveland Clinic add-on down the road on its own – in addition to what the VNA is proposing to build – might be viewed as time for St. Johns regulators to re-visit the entire permit.

The matter remains up in the air as Cleveland Clinic’s legal team also must be brought into the conversation. Cleveland Clinic handles all the maintenance of the retention ponds in question, and holds rights of first refusal on all property owned by the hospital district.