Novant presents proposals for two facilities

Photo by Novant Health

Jan. 7 – By Dave Vieser. The first round of public hearings on two medical facilities proposed by Novant Health in Cornelius revealed some concerns among residents and town commissioners. The Cornelius Town Board reviewed the two separate projects at its Jan. 5 meeting.

Emergency room

The proposed freestanding emergency room would be an 11,400-square-foot facility located on Holiday Lane, just northeast of the I-77 Exit 28 interchange.

During the presentation, town planners noted the proposal is inconsistent with the town’s land use plan. The parcel where Novant proposes to build the emergency room is designated as Waterfront Mixed Use because of its proximity to Lake Cornelius. That designation calls for active retail and restaurant uses, along with complementary residential and office development.

Before adoption of the current land use plan, the town approved the parcel for construction of a hotel in 2009. However, at this week’s meeting, Novant’s developers presented an environmental study stating the site’s proximity to wetlands “greatly diminished” the ability to develop a hotel with the associated parking and outdoor amenities.

The N.C. Department of Health and Human Services has already held a public hearing on the proposal, which would require a certificate of need to be built. Although a state decision is expected in April, some residents questioned both the need for and the location of the facility.

“If this project is approved, there would be five ER facilities within a 10-mile radius,” Cornelius resident Timothy McCullough said during the hearing. “When we lived in New York, I worked reviewing proposed health systems in seven counties, and from my experience, the state would never have approved so many facilities so close together.”

Novant officials responded that the Holiday Lane emergency room is needed due to overcrowding at the health system’s existing facility near the I-77 Exit 23 interchange.

Urgent care

The second proposal is a freestanding 20,000-square-foot urgent care and same-day surgery center on Westmoreland Road. A daycare center was previously approved for the site but was never built.

Fewer concerns were raised about the urgent care project, though residents and commissioners expressed the usual concerns related to traffic.

What’s next

Novant officials said the two projects are independent of one another, meaning one could proceed even if the other is rejected by the town or the state. If approved, each project would take more than a year to complete, according to Novant.

The presentations and discussions were part of the town’s required public hearings process for rezoning requests. Additional public hearings will be held by the Planning Board and the Town Board before any final decisions are made.