黑料社入口

A roar erupted Tuesday night in the Horry County Council chambers when the announcement came that Conway Medical Center had asked to remove its request to put a new hospital on International Drive in Carolina Forest.

CMC had planned to put a new facility on 353 acres across the highway from the Lewis Ocean Bay Heritage Preserve, a move that had drawn the ire of the S.C. Department of Natural Resources and a host of environmental groups. The DNR said it would interfere with prescribed burns that are carried out periodically in the preserve.

The hospital agreement had passed two readings previously to change the zoning from general residential to inpatient medical services. The item was on the council鈥檚 consent agenda for a third and final reading when council member Dennis DiSabato moved to have it taken from the consent and put on the regular agenda. The consent agenda contains a number of items that are passed by the council without discussion each meeting.

DiSabato said the council had just gotten word that CMC wanted to defer the third reading and enter into an exclusive negotiation to sell the parcel to DNR who would then manage and conserve the property.

The council voted unanimously to defer the third reading for six months until its August meeting to give CMC and DNR time to negotiate a deal for the sale of the 353 acres.

DiSabato said he was 鈥渢ickled to death鈥� that the land won鈥檛 be developed. He noted that he was always concerned with how the land would be developed but if it was going to be developed, he would have rather seen a hospital instead of hundreds of new residences.

Trapper Fowler of the Coastal Conservation League said the news was almost too good to be true and he would believe it when it finally happens. Fowler said he has been fighting against the proposed hospital since it was first announced in 2020.

鈥淚 am relieved that CMC is working exclusively with DNR to make this a conservation area,鈥� Fowler said. 鈥淚t鈥檚 a 100 percent win for everybody, especially Lewis Ocean Bays.鈥�

Justin Miller was one of dozens in the audience sporting stickers with a Venus fly trap on them. Lewis Ocean Bay is one of just a few ecosystems in the world where the endangered plant thrives.

Miller, representing the Native Plants Society, said the move to sell the land to DNR is a 鈥渃onservation win for the county, state and even the world. The protection of the history and land at Ocean Bays is so important to everyone.鈥�