LIBERTY TOWNSHIP | Tanner Trace residents are nervous about how construction of a new 225-room hospital would affect their comfortable rural area.

About 40 people who live just west of the proposed 105-acre site at the northwest corner of Ind. 49 and U.S. 6 voiced their concerns Saturday in the first of a series of informal public meetings.

Porter hospital Chief Executive Officer Jonathan Nalli and Chief Operating Officer Bill Cummins conducted the informal discussion.

Kelly Credit, director of planning and business development for Porter, said residents' concerns centered on traffic, noise, water drainage, lighting and what will happen to the wildlife that currently lives on the empty slice of land.

"We were really just there to listen today," she said. "Our plan is to take everything we heard today and address those when feasible. We're still in the very, very early stages of planning the site."

Porter has an option to buy the 105-acre parcel but has not solidified the purchase. Credit said that site is the hospital's preference.

Porter announced plans in September to build a hospital with all private rooms to replace its current 70-year-old hospital in Valparaiso. The news came nearly five months after the county wrapped up the sale of Porter hospital to Tennessee-based Community Health Systems.

It also came a couple of months after Memorial Health System, of South Bend, announced plans to build a 100-bed hospital and medical complex three miles south along the east side of Ind. 49 at County Road 500 North in Valparaiso.

On Wednesday, hospital officials will go before the Porter County Plan Commission to request the 105 acres be rezoned from rural to institutional. The sale is contingent on the rezoning and due diligence of the property, Credit said.

The commission's recommendation will be forwarded to the county commissioners for consideration.