PALM BEACH COUNTY, Fla. — A new medical center in Delray Beach was given the green light on Thursday at a Palm Beach County meeting.

The surgeons behind the specialty hospital said it will be the first of its kind in our area. But the project had some opposition and safety concerns.

A nursery sits at the corner of Atlantic Avenue and Smith Sunday Road in west Delray Beach.

Palm Beach County commissioners approved new zoning for this plot in the agricultural reserve to become the South Florida Spine and Orthopedic Institute.

“We really think this will transform medicine,” said orthopedic spine surgeon Dr. Robert Norton.

Norton is one of the nearly 30 local surgeons who will work out of the medical campus that will have two buildings, one for the surgery center and one for medical offices.

The meeting on Thursday gained support from local doctors and patients, but there was also opposition to the project being in the ag reserve.

“Our residents do not want this,” said resident Lori Venikoor.

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