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Council approves Parkway Corners initial master plan with conditions after lengthy Novant hospital access debate
Summary
Council approved an initial master plan for University Investments’ Parkway Corners (including a proposed Novant Bluffton medical center) on a conditional vote after extended discussion about roadway realignment, secondary access, buffers, and the county’s traffic review.
Bluffton Town Council voted to approve an initial master plan for the 79.3-acre Parkway Corners project — a mixed-use and medical-commercial development by University Investments — while attaching staff-recommended conditions to resolve outstanding issues around future parkway alignment, traffic analysis and secondary access.
Developers and consultants described Area G as the parcel with the proposed Novant Health Bluffton Medical Center (planned to open with 50 licensed beds and expand to 100 in time, including an 8-room labor-and-delivery unit). "Novant Health's planned 100 bed Bluffton Medical Center is expected to open with 50 licensed beds upon day 1 with the eventual plan to grow to a 100 beds," a Novant representative read into the record. Staff and council pressed the developer to show how the proposal aligns with the Buckwalter PUD concept plan (including a historic proposed realignment of Bluffton Parkway) and to finalize a traffic impact analysis (TIA) acceptable to Beaufort County before final master-plan approval.
Council and staff also debated access and emergency egress for Area G. Planning staff recommended that if Area G moves forward as an isolated initial phase, a secondary access to a public road (Buckwalter Parkway or Bluffton Parkway or a completed Innovation Drive connection) be provided, or that a phasing plan tie required improvements to specific development triggers in the TIA. "If that site were to develop first and no other sites are developing, that's all—there's only access at Lake Pointe and the Parkway," staff said, recommending secondary access to avoid a single point of failure for emergency services.
Developer representatives said they are committed to building the internal roads and to working with the town and county on encroachment and access permits. Councilmembers asked that the record explicitly state that nothing in the motion prevents parties from petitioning to amend the Buckwalter concept plan in the future if county studies make the realignment unnecessary. The motion to approve the initial master plan with the staff conditions on buffers, the TIA, phasing, and access passed by voice vote with at least one recorded nay.
