Apr. 21—Conway leaders have a big question to ask themselves: Is building a $25 million community health care center more important than letting developers control how the city plans to grow over the next generation?

“Part of our job is to look very long term, and when ideals are set in place so we can reach it, that might mean that we have to say ‘no’ to some things, and it might mean that it’s grueling,” Mayor Barbara Blain-Bellamy said during a Monday City Council meeting.

Healthcare Partners of South Carolina, a regional network serving patients in Conway, Johnsonville and Marion, wants to open a state-of-the art facility on 4.9 acres along Fourth Avenue, converting an outdated shopping center into a $25 million health care hub.

But for that to happen, an on-site Dollar General would need to move across the street. Project managers are also asking the city to shift zoning from “core commercial” to the much less restrictive “highway commercial,” which allows parking in front of buildings.

The Planning Commission reviewed the proposal April 7, and the City Council on Monday sent the plan back to the advisory board for further analysis before an expected vote next month.

“Both of these entities are vitally concerned and interested in the improvements they will make to this part of Conway and to these properties,” said David Elliott of G3 Engineering, which is working on the project.

Part of the rub for city leaders is that Fourth Avenue — mentioned 13 times in the city’s 2017 updated downtown master plan — remains at the center of long-term revitalization plans, and altering portions of its zoning for a proposal that doesn’t yet have financing could be a lethal mistake, they say.

“Nobody wants that end of the street revitalized more than I do, but my biggest fear is we go in and rezone, the deal falls apart for a million reasons, and then we can’t take that back,” Councilman William Goldfinch said. “Anything could then go there and destroy that neighborhood, and we would be villains, and so that’s the risk we run.”

Adam Emrick, Conway’s administrator, said construction could happen under the existing zoning, but the development team doesn’t want to go that route.

“The only reason the rezoning is coming in is because they don’t like the design standards we have in place,” he said. “We have standards in Conway, and I think it’s important we stand on our standards.”

Tom James, a developer representing Dollar General, said if city officials didn’t let the store move across the street, the company was willing to exercise its five-year lease option at the current location, dooming the health care center.

“As the guy who’s got the lease in his hand, this is it,” James said.

Goldfinch fired back, accusing those behind the deal of coming to an agreement before the city could act.

“You ordered the materials for a building that would never go there, and now you’re trying to hold us hostage with this health care center that everybody wants for our community, and you want us to make an emotional decision to fix what I think you guys did intentionally from the start, and it’s insulting,” Goldfinch said.

Resident James Lee, who pastors at nearby Mason Temple Church of God in Christ, asked the council to back the rezoning request.

“This is a win for the people I represent. We have two liquor stores in walking distance, and they’re bringing a $25 million health care facility, and it doesn’t look like we’re at all receptive,” he said.

(c)2022 The Sun News (Myrtle Beach, S.C.) Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.