Conway Medical Center delays hospital plans after officials and advocates raise issues

Conway Medical Center officials are delaying plans to develop a new 50-bed hospital in Carolina Forest after both state officials and local environmental advocates raised concerns about the project.

The hospital, which would be located on a 359 acre site along International Drive, drew opposition because its original designs had the facility built over top of wetlands, which rankled anti-flooding advocates with the group Horry County Rising.

Last week the state Department of Natural Resources sent a letter to Horry County planners saying that the hospital’s proximity to the Lewis Ocean Bay Heritage Preserve could be problematic. The DNR conducts occasional controlled burns at the preserve to prevent wildfires, and DNR Director Robert Boyles wrote that the smoke, plus the fact that DNR blocks off International Drive during the burns, could interfere with normal hospital operations.

Thursday afternoon, CMC Chief Financial Officer Brian Argo said the hospital would ask the Horry County Planning Commission to defer discussing and voting on the project for a month so that he and developers could better re-work the designs for the facility and resolve outstanding issues with DNR. The Planning Commission had planned to discuss the project and hear public input on it Thursday evening.

Argo said that while the hospital had drawn up new designs in recent days to address concerns, they needed more time.

“Since receiving concerns from County staff, we have worked diligently toward solutions to the potential conflicts identified,” Argo said in a statement. “While we feel that this new plan addresses the concerns expressed by County staff, we acknowledge that there are additional concerns expressed by SCDNR that we have been unable to address due to time constraints.”

He added: “We also hope to further develop our concepts for the property to provide a clearer understanding of this project and its relation to the community and lives that it will serve.”

Environmental, traffic concerns expressed

In an interview Thursday, Argo explained that there were “no big red flags or any material things that changed,” but that the hospital needed more time to address the concerns raised by DNR.

Among those concerns is the fact that DNR uses large gates to block access to the four-lane International Drive when it conducts controlled burns at the heritage preserve, which sits along a large swath of the road. After relocating the planned hospital from the Northeast corner of its chosen site down to the Southeast corner — further from the heritage preserve and closer to the gates — Argo said earlier this week that he planned to ask DNR to move the gates closer to the heritage preserve to allow continuous access to the hospital driveways.

Argo said Thursday that delaying the project by a month will give the hospital additional time to communicate with DNR about the changing plans and how to resolve the existing concerns.

David Lucas, a DNR spokesperson, said Thursday that he wasn’t aware if any DNR officials had met with CMC this week, but that the agency’s concerns remain the same.

In the past week, Lucas said DNR had spoken with CMC twice — one conversation with Boyles, the director, and one conversation with Lorianne Riggin, DNR’s director of environmental programs. Both conversations were cordial, he said. Lucas added that CMC did not yet pitch its idea to have DNR move its gates further down International Drive.

“While Director Boyles and other members of our staff remain available to listen to and have additional conversations with CMC or their representatives on this issue, it’s also fair to say that SCDNR’s concerns about the project as a whole have not changed, and those concerns are laid out straightforwardly in the letter from Director Boyles,” Lucas said in a follow up email. “In short, the letter speaks for itself.”

DNR’s concerns were first communicated in a letter Boyles sent on Oct. 26 to county planners, saying that a hospital being built so close the heritage preserve was “not compatible.”

“Knowing that prescribed fires will be conducted on adjacent property and that smoke will be present in this location, the SCDNR finds siting a medical facility in this location has unavoidable risks for the operation of a medical facility, including the use of emergency medical ambulances and helicopters,” Boyles wrote to county planners. “Ordinary and emergency visits to such a medical facility are also subject to the temporary closure of International Drive during prescribed fires.”

On Monday, Argo said he was “taken aback” by the letter, but that hospital officials quickly went to work to address the concerns Boyles raised, as well as those by local environmental advocates who opposed the project because it would harm wetlands.

In the redesigned plans, the hospital would be built around existing wetlands and use previous pavements for the parking lots that would border the wetlands, allowing cars to drive on top but water to soak through.

The hospital would also use a specialized HVAC system to keep any smoke or outside pollutants out of the building, Argo said.

Argo said that the hospital would seek to have the Planning Commission discuss the redesigned project at its next meeting on Dec. 3.

The redesign by CMC, and its decision to ask the Planning Commission to delay discussion, haven’t satisfied local environmental advocates like April O’Leary, the head of Horry County Rising.

“This happens a lot. A lot of times, applicants keep trying until they get it passed,” O’Leary said Thursday. “Part of the reason why our organization exists is because we needed a formal watchdog to call attention to projects that the community may otherwise not be aware of because the media is covering other important topics.”

A message seeking comment by The Sun News was left with John Poston, the head developer of the project and vice chairman of the Horry County Board of Education.

David Schwerd, the county planning director, said Thursday that he’s asked CMC to include county planners the the meeting it’s seeking with DNR.

“We would like to be part of the conversation,” he said, adding that the county is looking to work with CMC and DNR to resolve the outstanding concerns.

Argo said the project is not derailed in any way, just delayed by a month. CMC will seek to meet with DNR officials before then, he said.

“We’re still getting some concerns from them,” Argo said. “We want to continue to make sure we can work with them towards a resolution.”

This story was originally published November 5, 2020 at 2:32 PM.