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Suburban Hospital officials on Monday stressed an aging population in Montgomery County and a significant increase in its patient admissions as primary reasons for an expansion at the first of seven planned public hearings.

Gene Corapi, senior vice president of operations at the hospital, told County Hearing Examiner Francoise Carrier that the 9 percent increase in the number of county residents age 65 and over from 1990 to 2006, combined with the 27 percent increase in admissions from the same time period, made the hospital's expansion critical to the facility and community at large.

From 1990 to 2007, meanwhile, the hospital saw a 61 percent jump in the volume of trauma cases. Corapi said this could be due in part to the increased traffic on local roads and higher number of accidents. Suburban is the county's designated trauma center.

The hospital had not expanded its facilities significantly since 1979, Corapi noted.

"Our emergency department…is undersized," Corapi told Carrier.

Carrier will make a recommendation to the county Board of Appeals about the Bethesda hospital's application for a special exception to relocate and expand 15 operating rooms, create more single-patient rooms, build physician office space, and expand parking.

The Huntington Terrace Citizens Association, which represents the neighborhood around the hospital, opposes the hospital's plan, which would close one block of Lincoln Street adjoining Old Georgetown Road and demolish 23 hospital-owned homes. The County Council has final say on the road closure.

The Planning Board recommended approval of the plan, with certain alterations, at a Sept. 25 public hearing.

The citizens association's attorney at Monday's hearing, Norman Knopf, appeared to anticipate some of Corapi's arguments when he stressed that citizens were opposed to the specific expansion put forward by Suburban because of the loss of homes and the Lincoln Street closure. He said the neighborhood believed the hospital could expand its facilities without enlarging its footprint and damaging the character and safety of the area.

"We do favor an expansion of the hospital," Knopf said.

He also said even though the citizens association could not match each of the hospital's experts with expert testimony of its own, Carrier should give fair consideration to testimony from residents and volunteers.

"My clients have shallow pockets," Knopf said.

Carrier said she would welcome testimony from witnesses not associated with Suburban or Huntington Terrace on Dec. 12, Dec. 15 and Dec. 16. In addition to a hearing on Tuesday, hearings are also scheduled for Dec. 8 and Dec. 18.

Prior to Monday's hearing, Huntington Terrace asked a member of the Board of Appeals, Catherine Titus, to recuse herself from considering the case. Huntington Terrace made the request since Titus' husband, Roger Titus, served on the Board of Trustees at Suburban, and also because the couple had donated money to the hospital. Titus ultimately declined to recuse herself.

Suburban spokeswoman Ronna Borenstein-Levy confirmed that from Jan. 1, 2006 to the present, the hospital had received $1,244 in checks that bore both Titus' name and her husband's name. Roger Titus served on the hospital's Board of Trustees from 1986-2000, and as the board's chairman from 1997-2000.