At a Horry County Council meeting Tuesday, Conway Medical Center officials said they no longer plan to build a $160 million state-of-the-art hospital across the street from Lewis Bay Ocean Preserve.
To give the hospital more time to sell the property to the Department of Natural Resources, Horry County Council postponed the third and final reading of the proposed rezoning until Aug. 13.
On International Drive, between Highway 31 and Highway 90, the hospital would have created 250 new jobs in the Carolina Forest area, but entirely destroyed a natural preserve.
As a result of the proximity to a nature preserve, community members and environmental groups have expressed concerns regarding noise, controlled burns, and flooding.
Lewis Ocean Bay Preserve is a 10,000-acre sanctuary with native South Carolina plants and animals. Horry County’s Imagine 2040 plan discourages development near Lewis Ocean Bay to allow prescribed burns and protect the county from flooding.
A facility like this would have been the first in South Carolina and one of the very few in the world to be designed from the ground up with pandemic mode, which allows all patient rooms to function as infectious patient isolation rooms.
Coastal Conservation League’s North Coast Office Director Becky Ryon called Tuesday’s decision a victory.
“County Council worked with Conway Medical Center to defer the project to see if a conservation outcome can be achieved,” Ryon said. “We’ll keep an eye on it over the next few months, but we’re optimistic tonight.“