A hospital or 3,000 homes? Horry County leaders to decide fate of Carolina Forest land
If Conway Medical Center isn’t able to move forward with plans to build a 50-bed hospital in the heart of Carolina Forest, a sprawling residential development of 3,000 homes could take its place, county and company officials say.
“Carolina Forest is a core area for our services,” Conway Medical Center CEO Brian Argo said at an April 24 community meeting. “For us, we’ve worked with the community members in Carolina Forest. We’ve met with many of them. We’ve had multiple meetings to address their concerns as best as possible.”
Before construction can begin on the roughly $160 million facility, the county council needs to approve rezoning 353 acres along International Drive that will allow Conway Medical Center to secure state and federal permits.
A third and final reading has yet to be scheduled.
Conway Medical Center in November 2020 cleared a major hurdle after state regulators approved a conceptual plan for the Carolina Forest site.
But opposition has mounted from conservation groups and the state’s wildlife agency, who say the proposed hospital interferes with prescribed burning within the Lewis Ocean Bay Heritage Preserve.
The 10,000-acre preserve, located west of Myrtle Beach and accessible via International Drive, is home to globally and federally endangered plant and animal species. That includes the Venus flytrap, which is found in just 18 counties across the Carolinas.
Controlled burns are vital to ensure stable ecosystems, said a state Department of Natural Resources official. But they take careful planning and must be done away from smoke-sensitive areas like hospitals.
The agency burns at least 1,500 acres inside the preserve every year, said Lorianne Riggin, who runs the department’s environmental programs office.
“Any additional smoke-sensitive areas near Lewis Ocean Bay Heritage Preserve further complicates and limits the agency’s ability to apply prescribed fire management, compounding the challenges and constraints that already exist,” she said.
About a dozen people protested outside the Carolina Forest Recreation Center, where the April 24 meeting was held, urging county officials to reject the hospital plan because of its potential to disrupt conservation efforts.
But David Gilreath, an assistant county administrator who manages infrastructure and regulation, said the landowners have inherent rights that allow them to develop based on zoning class.
And right now, the Conway Medical Center parcel is designated general residential, which could put more than 3,200 multi-family units on the site.
Housing vs. a hospital
As part of a 2021 development agreement inked between Conway Medical Center and the county, a large portion of unused land will be sent back to Horry County for preservation.
“The hospital will have no greater impact on prescribed burning than 3,232 multi-family housing would have on it,” Argo said. “So for us, we see this as a benefit to the community and a better alternative.”
The hospital, when it’s complete, also would have a much lower traffic impact than housing, county officials said.
According to traffic analyses, Conway Medical Center’s hospital would add 4,260 more average daily trips to International Drive, compared to the trips that clustered housing would carry: 10,174 to 16,160.
Even so, adding more limitations to controlled burning near the preserve needs to be closely considered, said Darryl Jones, the state forestry commission’s chief of protection.
“Burning is something that takes a lot of planning. It’s a very heavy lift to do a burn the right way and not impact public safety or public health,” Jones said.
