People living in the Poconos could soon have another place to get medical care.
Saint Luke's Hospital, based in the Lehigh Valley, recently submitted plans to build a campus near Stroudsburg.
A wooded area along route 611 outside Stroudsburg could be the future location of the new hospital in the Poconos, Saint Luke's Hospital's Pocono campus.
"I think it's great. I'm a landlord of about six properties in the area. I think it's going to drive up our property values," said Paul Long of East Stroudsburg.
Saint Luke's is based in the Lehigh Valley.
Last month, Stroud Township officials received renderings and plans for an inpatient hospital and medical office building.
But not everyone is convinced another hospital is really needed in the Poconos.
"I think we have plenty of urgent cares in the area, we have a new Pocono medical facility going up over there and I really don't think there's much need for another hospital right here across the street," said Jeffrey Rau of Stroudsburg.
If plans go through, some of Saint Luke's Hospital's Pocono Campus neighbors would be Pocono Medical Center Facilities, right next door and across the street.
The facility next door is Pocono Medical Center's Bartonsville Health Care Center. It's under construction right now and expected to be open by early 2014.
On the other side of Route 611, is Pocono Medical Center's Immediate Care Center, where people can get medical attention for minor illness and injury.
A spokesperson for Pocono Medical Center says: "We are not familiar enough with the details of the services being proposed by St. Luke`s to comment at this time. Pocono Health System`s mission is to provide 'World Class Care Close to Home' and our evaluation of this initiative will be based upon that community perspective,".
Stroud Township has scheduled a public meeting on the plans by Saint Luke's Hospital on August 7th at 7:00 p.m. at its municipal building.