MIDDLETOWN — The two boards that control Middletown Regional Hospital held off on picking a new hospital site after a five-hour meeting Thursday.

        The latest delay comes 16 months after they announced plans to move.

        “There's just still too many unanswered questions,” hospital vice president Larry James said. “This is one of the most important decisions this hospital will ever make. They just want to make sure the decision they make is the right one.”

        The meeting was the hospital boards' third since Middletown city officials asked them in June to take a closer look at possible sites at Ohio 122 and Interstate 75 in Middletown.

        “I think that's a good sign that they're asking questions,” Middletown Mayor David Schiavone said. “They're still looking at (Ohio 122) very seriously.”

        The boards of the private nonprofit announced plans in spring 2001 to relocate the 85-year-old hospital from McKnight Drive in Middletown to Greentree Road and I-75 in Warren County. As envisioned by President Doug McNeill, a $135 million hospital and doctors' offices would be part of a 550-acre campus that would include a health sciences academy and health- and high-tech-related companies.

        However, plans to put the hospital on the east side of I-75 at Greentree — which would have allowed Middletown to annex it — met with strong resistance from residents of the rural area and Warren County commissioners.

        Middletown Regional instead has been considering building on the west side of I-75, which is in Monroe.

        Monroe, which has thrown its arms open to the hospital, has agreed to share some hospital revenue with Middletown. Mr. Schiavone and other Middletown leaders, however, stepped up their lobbying to bring the hospital — its second-largest employer — to Ohio 122 instead.

        The area, just two miles north of Greentree, has hundreds of acres of undeveloped land and an I-75 interchange. The city has even agreed to relocate existing businesses if necessary.

        All three possible locations are in Warren County, which has never had a hospital. County commissioners favor Ohio 122.

        The boards' next scheduled meeting is Sept. 26, Mr. James said, although they could decide to call one sooner.

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