At its regular monthly meeting on September 11, Middleburg's Town Council unanimously passed a last-minute resolution opposing the construction of Hospital Corporation of America's proposed new hospital at Broad Run, recommending instead that the Loudoun County Planning Commission and the Board of Supervisors ensure that "...the next full-service hospital is constructed in the Route 50 corridor."

The resolution, introduced at Mayor Betsy Davis's request, first appeared on Council members desks the night it passed. Mayor Davis informed Council that she had received a letter from "the hospital" requesting that Middleburg send a representative to a County Planning Commission public hearing on the matter scheduled for September 25th.

Davis asked Town Clerk Ronda North, to research Council records and draft an appropriate "sense of the council" statement in time for review, passage, and transmission to the Planning Commission and Supervisors before the 25th.

The resolution reflected Middleburg's official views since at least 2004 on the proper location for any new full-service hospital in Loudoun County.

Its preamble noted that County health care facilities policies adopted in March, 2005, recognized that "residents of the Route 50 corridor" did not "have adequate access to emergency care or hospital-related services" and had urged that the Route 50 corridor "be given special consideration for the next full-service hospital and EMS ambulance-receiving facility to be built in the county."

According to Council, the construction of HCA's proposed Broadlands facility "within five miles" of an existing Inova Loudoun facility, "would not adequately meet the growing needs of the residents of Middleburg" nor address the town's need for "timely access" to medical facilities during periods of high traffic congestion.

Davis described the resolution as simply reinforcing long-held and repeatedly expressed official views that the proposed Broadlands facility "did nothing for us" in Middleburg.

Moved formally by Council Member Mark Snyder, the resolution passed unanimously and without further discussion. No decision was made on whether Mayor Davis should deliver the resolution personally, or simply submit it in writing to the Planning Commission and Supervisors.