Beebe Healthcare wins preliminary approval for Millsboro medical campus

Beebe Healthcare won preliminary approval from the Millsboro Town Council on June 2 for a 96,000-square-foot, three-story medical campus that will house a freestanding emergency department, a walk-in clinic and medical-office space.

John Falkowski of Becker Morgan Group, the civil engineer for the BB Medical Center project, described the site planned on a 24.3-acre parcel adjacent to the Route 113/Route 20 interchange. Falkowski said the first floor (about 44,000 square feet) will host the walk-in clinic and emergency department, with two floors of medical offices above. He told the council the design includes roughly 344 parking spaces (the packet requirement was 260), a new access road realigned with Sheep Pen Road, and a 25-foot landscape buffer along the parcel edge to reduce visual and light impacts on nearby residences.

Dr. David Tam, president and CEO of Beebe Healthcare, said Beebe secured state approval for an emergency-room certificate of need and is programming the facility to handle both adult and pediatric emergencies through a partnership with Nemours Children’s Hospital. "We saw that this area is the fastest-growing locale in this part of the county," Dr. Tam said, explaining the hospital system’s rationale for adding local emergency capacity and on-site imaging (CT/MRI) and lab services.

Council members and residents asked detailed questions about ambulance access, helipad use, lighting and future expansion. Falkowski said DelDOT coordination and a traffic-impact study are underway and expected to conclude in about 2–3 months; the firm is also evaluating a secondary entrance for maintenance and occasional emergency use. On helipad concerns, Dr. Tam said a helipad is a regulatory requirement for certain emergency facilities tied to federal reimbursement rules but said he does not expect heavy helicopter traffic: "It is really unlikely that that helipad will be used substantially," he said, noting most complex transfers now route through larger hospitals.

Project staff said stormwater design anticipates an infiltration basin appropriate for local soils, borings are in progress, and agency pre-application meetings (Sussex Conservation District and others) have occurred. Falkowski and Dr. Tam invited additional community meetings to discuss operational and programmatic questions, including potential walking trails and later-phase uses of remaining land.

After the presentation and a period for questions from council and the public, the council voted to accept the preliminary site plan by voice vote with no recorded opposition.

The council’s vote was on preliminary site-plan acceptance only; the engineer and Beebe said further agency reviews (DelDOT, Sussex Conservation District and state permitting where required) and the traffic-impact study must conclude before final permitting or construction begins. Beebe representatives said they will continue outreach and return for additional community engagement as the design progresses.