It may be legal, but is it right?
By Lolita Huckaby
BEAUFORT
Last week’s vote by the Beaufort County Council to reject a request from the Pine Island developer to remove his 500 acres from the cultural protection overlay district was considered a major win for those who hope to maintain St. Helena’s rural character.
The council room, as in the past, was packed with opponents of the proposed golf course and gated community. Interestingly enough, there was a growing number of folks – shall we say “the silent ones” – who supported Elvio Tropeano’s request as the less offensive of two options, the other being a plan for 166 single-family homes and up to 100 docks, which he calculates would be allowed under the current zone.
The council meeting had some unexpected twist and turns.
Councilman Logan Cunningham started the conversation by making a motion to table the vote until August, suggesting the county staff could use more time to meet with Tropeano and find a compromise.
That idea went down in flames as the audience murmured its dislike for the idea and a majority of council members agreed they didn’t need more time.
Of course, later in the discussion, the council voted to go into closed door discussion for “legal advice,” a discussion which was mercifully not too long. They then returned to vote down the request on an 8-2 vote with Cunningham and Brown, both from south of the Broad River, casting the dissenting votes.
Another twist was the presence of Vice-Chairman Larry McElynn leading the meeting in the absence of Chairman Joe Passiment. McElynn, a retired judge and former DEA special agent, ran the meeting in a bit of a courtroom fashion, admonishing the audience to be quiet while speakers were addressing the council. He also limited the number of speakers during the public hearing portion of the discussion – two speaking in favor of Tropeano’s request; two opposed.
A third and even more interesting twist came at the very end of the two-hour meeting, during the second public hearing which always comes at the end of a meeting.
The room was practically empty except for the council, the plethora of county administrators who sit at tables circling the room and three citizens.
It was during that part of the meeting when St. Helena resident, Robert New, who has followed the Pine Island issue from the beginning and who has spoken his opposition to the development when given the opportunity, used his three-minutes at the podium to address what some might describe as an “elephant in the room.”
New brought up the issue of an anonymous email that was circulated recently among council members and a number of other folks, under the title GROSS MALFEASANCE BY COUNTY ADMINISTRATOR.
The email included a snapshot of a Fripp Island golf cart which showed County Administrator Eric Greenway played golf with Tropeano and two others. And a message: “This is an affront to every resident of the County, and especially those on St. Helena who the County Administrator at least in some small way is supposed to protect (or at least fairly represent). … No wonder there is such a lack of trust with the Council and County Government in general. If this kind of behavior is condoned, you are failing us.”
New told the council the administrator’s behavior, not only playing golf but meeting repeatedly with Tropeano to discuss the Pine Island project was an example of “brazen, ignorant or stupid” behavior. Comments for which the Chairman threatened to censure him if he did not stop making the comments about Greenway personal.
New went one step further and asked the Council to terminate Greenway’s contract immediately, a suggestion that was met with no comment.
Three council members – York Glover in whose district Pine Island exists, Logan Cunningham and Paula Brown – spoke in defense of Greenway. Brown carried it one step further.
“It’s not against the law to play golf with somebody; I’m sorry, but it’s not,” she said. Adding that she considered it against the law to send out an email “violating someone’s privacy.”
Her comments prompted one last comment from the only spectator left in the room.
“It may not be against the law but there’s something to be said for doing the right thing,“ the Coffin Point resident said. “Let’s not lose sight of that. We need to remember that in our personal and professional life …”
The same could be said for another conflict dividing the Beaufort community, the proposed three-story-with-a-rooftop bar hotel and parking garage planned for the downtown historic district.
The two projects which have worked their way through the city planning and multiple review board sessions have not been stopped by the courts and may be appealed yet.
And while the judges, thus far, have found no fault in the legality of the city’s approval of the projects, there’s still a lingering question among many, are they right for this historic town?
Clarification
There seems to be some confusion in last week’s column where the statement was the city of Beaufort and Port Royal “both are run by managers who get their marching orders from five elected council members and a mayor.” It should have been stated four council members and a mayor, who are all elected.
Lolita Huckaby Watson is a community volunteer and newspaper columnist. In her former role as a reporter with The Beaufort Gazette, The Savannah Morning News, Bluffton Today and Beaufort Today, she prided herself in trying to stay neutral and unbiased. As a columnist, these are her opinions. Her goal is to be factual but opinionated, based on her own observations. Feel free to contact her at bftbay@gmail.com.
