Growth in the Town Madison area is behind Crestwood Medical Center’s pursuit of a freestanding emergency department on Madison’s southeastern side, according to a hospital executive.

The city’s zoning board unanimously approved Crestwood’s request for an exception to the zoning of a 4.3-acre, undeveloped parcel of land at Madison Boulevard and Research Boulevard during its meeting Thursday.

According to documents filed with its zoning board application, the hospital anticipates a one-story building of about 12,000 square feet with an on-site helipad.

Drew Davenport, Crestwood’s chief development officer, told the board the “immense growth” around I-565 led the provider to seek to build the freestanding ER. It will offer an “alternative choice” for people seeking emergency treatment, he said.

“When we went and looked through the analytics for health care needs in the Madison area, we discovered that the southern portion of Madison – the southeast and southern portion – is under-served from an emergency services standpoint,” he said.

Crestwood employees will staff the ER, Davenport said, which will be outpatient only. It will include lab, X-ray, C-T, ultrasound and MRI capabilities.

“If a patient needed to be admitted for longer than 23 hours, they would be transported to a hospital facility,” Davenport said.

Crestwood operates a large, private hospital in Huntsville and multiple, smaller medical facilities in the area.

Freestanding emergency departments are becoming more common in Alabama. They are designed to provide round-the-clock outpatient emergency medical services in a smaller-footprint building that is easier for patients to access and navigate than an acute care hospital campus.

Last year, Crestwood opened a 10-bed, $22 million freestanding ER in Harvest. Davenport said Thursday the Madison facility will be “of similar size and similar look” to that one.

There are 10 freestanding emergency departments in Alabama, AL.com reported in January, with others located in Baldwin, Mobile, Jefferson, Shelby and Lee counties.