By Lolita Huckaby
The Island News
By an 8-3 vote, Beaufort County Council on Monday night rejected a court mediator’s settlement proposal to resolve the Pine Island development argument, clearing the matter to continue in court.
The Council met behind closed doors for two-and-a-half hours to discuss the mediator’s proposal which came after a meeting last week between both parties – those who want to challenge the area’s zoning and develop the 500-acre parcel on St. Helena Island and those who want to see the county’s Cultural Preservation Ordinance (CPO) upheld.
Pine Island Land Holdings, LLC filed an appeal last August when the County Council, following the recommendation of the county Planning Committee, voted to deny the development company’s plans for three six-hole golf courses on the island. A civil legal action was also filed by the limited liability corporation challenging the legality of the county’s CPO and seeking damages.
As a follow to the court proceedings, Monday’s special meeting of the council was held to give all 11 members of Council an opportunity to receive legal advice on what was said during the mediation at which three council members were in attendance.
It was two of those council members in attendance for the closed mediation, Logan Cunningham and Paula Brown, who voted against the successful motion Monday night to not accept the mediator’s proposal. A third council member, Tom Reitz, also voted against rejecting the mediation.
“We all ran on responsible growth and this doesn’t leave any option for us. It’s either one or none. This puts us in a tough spot and opens up St. Helena to development which is totally opposite from what the CPO is designed to do,” Cunningham said.
Cunningham and Brown, from Bluffton, and Reitz, from Hilton Head, have consistently supported plans to change the CPO to accommodate the Pine Island development plans.
Monday’s meeting, which included no public comment period, was packed with spectators, many wearing “Support the CPO” buttons and signs. But supporters of the development plan were present, as well.
The two-hour waiting period was marked by a pizza “party” outside of the council chambers, compliments of some community members who have attended hours of meetings on the Pine Island proposal. It also included a powerful prayer by Queen Quet, Chieftess of the Gullah Geechee Nation who urged the circle of supporters to pray for the elected officials to “do the right thing.”
Legality of the closed-door meeting was initially questioned by attorneys for the various parties in the suit, including the S.C. Environmental Law Project and the Coastal Conservation League. But Council members agreed to the executive session after the motion was made, stating it was being held “for the receipt of legal advice where the legal advice relates to a pending, threatened or potential claim or other matters covered by the attorney client privilege, settlement of legal claims, or the position of a public agency in other adversary situations …”
Attorneys from both parties were allowed into the closed meeting, individually, to answer questions.
Prior to becoming a columnist for The Island News, Lolita Huckaby Watson has been a reporter for The Beaufort Gazette, The Savannah Morning News, Bluffton Today and Beaufort Today. Feel free to contact her at bftbay@gmail.com.
