McCullough-Hyde Memorial Hospital has temporarily withdrawn their application for expansion.
The plan has been removed from the Planning Commission's agenda while the hospital works with Oxford Presbyterian Church to find a design that both parties can agree to.
"There have been some discussions that the design may not work well with the neighbors," said Jung-Han Chen, Oxford's Community Development Director. "They have decided to withdraw [their application] and work out the differences so everyone can be in support of this project moving forward."
Bryan Hehemann, President and CEO of McCullough-Hyde Memorial Hospital, emphasized that the move is temporary.
"We're going to work on some specific concerns of our neighbors at the Presbyterian Church. Some of the leaders and committee members have concerns with the design and we want to work through them so we can go back to the planning commission sometime soon," Hehemann said.
According to Hehemann, some members of the Oxford Presbyterian Church are worried that the hospital's expansion would create problems with parking and vehicular flow.
The hospital proposed that North Poplar Street be vacated in order for the expansion to take place, according to Chen. This proposition has caused alarm for businesses on the street, including the Presbyterian Church, which has had a longstanding partnership with McCullough-Hyde, according to Bradley Cronk, president of the Board of Trustees for the Oxford Presbyterian Church.
"That's 28 public parking spaces," Cronk said. "Think about Quaterbarrel [Bar and Grill] – they could go under because of that."
Hehemann said that he, along with the architect in charge of the expansion plan will be working with the committees from the church to make the proper changes to the design.
The hospital had two options when dealing with their application for expansion.
They could postpone the project, which would mean keeping it on the agenda month after month, or they could withdraw their application.
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Hehemann concluded that because of the upcoming holiday, the better move was to withdraw their application temporarily until the issues are resolved.
He was not certain that the plan would be ready within the next 30 or 60 days.
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