Because three members didn’t show up for work Wednesday, City Council could not take the vote necessary to allow Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center to break ground on its planned $500 million expansion into Avondale.

The absences ultimately will not delay the project for long, since at least six council members have committed to voting in favor of the zoning changes for the region’s largest construction project since Paul Brown Stadium.

But several members of the hamstrung council complained Wednesday about their missing colleagues -- Wendell Young, Yvette Simpson and Charlie Winburn.

“It does seem reasonable that people who are paid by the taxpayers would schedule vacation around the one meeting that we hold between late June and September,” Mayor John Cranley said.

The city government was scheduled to act this week on the zoning adjustments that Cincinnati Children’s Hospital needs for its expansion into the Avondale neighborhood. The new facility, expected to cost at least $500 million, will include a patient tower, emergency department with helipad and parking garage.

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Michael Fisher, chief executive officer at Children’s Hospital, and other hospital officials have argued the expansion as planned is best for patients.

But the plan has angered some Avondale residents. The Avondale Community Council opposes the expansion as detrimental to the character and health of the low-income neighborhood. Community Council President Patricia Milton said Wednesday she wants the expansion built elsewhere on the hospital’s Burnet Avenue campus or at its Liberty campus in Butler County.

Hospital officials say they have negotiated for two years with Avondale residents and activists and have pledged $11.5 million over five years to help the community.

The city’s Planning Commission unanimously approved the zoning changes in June, and the next step was a vote in City Council’s four-member neighborhoods committee.

But Tuesday, when the committee vote was slated, neither Young nor Simpson was present, leaving the panel without a quorum and unable to vote. The matter was kicked over until Wednesday’s meeting of the full council.

Young and Simpson did not appear Wednesday, meaning the neighborhoods committee again was without a quorum and could not vote as required on the zoning changes. Thus, City Council as a whole could not vote.

Simpson’s chief of staff said the council member and mayoral candidate was attending to a family health emergency. Young told The Enquirer that he was out of town on a scheduled vacation. “I stand with Avondale” against the hospital expansion, he said.

Also missing Wednesday was council member Winburn. He told The Enquirer he had cleared his absence two weeks ago for a doctor’s appointment Wednesday in Blue Ash. Earlier, Winburn said he was undecided on the expansion, but Wednesday he said he has come to a decision and would not reveal his vote yet.

Council member Kevin Flynn said city government would try again next week to take the votes on the expansion. The neighborhood committee has scheduled a meeting for Monday, and he expressed “hope at least three of four members show up.”

Now in the “yes” column for the expansion are Flynn, Vice Mayor David Mann, Amy Murray, Christopher Smitherman, Chris Seelbach and P.G. Sittenfeld.

Fisher and other Children’s Hospital officials have said the facility needs to expand because it routinely operates at capacity. In June, Cincinnati Children’s Hospital was once again ranked the nation’s third-best pediatric hospital by U.S. News & World Report.

If ground is broken this year, as hospital officials hope, construction would last until 2021 The hospital plans to shoulder alone the cost of construction.