Graham Trask, HBF hoping SC Supreme Court will hear case
By Mike McCombs
The Island News
If lawsuits by Graham Trask and the Historic Beaufort Foundation (HBF) are going to reverse the City of Beaufort’s approvals for developer 303 Associates’ hotel and parking garage in downtown Beaufort, it’s going to require a ruling by the S.C. Supreme Court.
The South Carolina Court of Appeals, on Tuesday, Nov. 19, denied requests filed Nov. 14 by Trask (West Street Farms, LLC and Mix Farms, LLC ) and HBF to reconsider its opinions rendered Oct. 30.
Those decisions had 1) affirmed a decision from Circuit Court Judge Bentley Price in January 2022 denying the appeal of West Street Farms, LLC, Mix Farms, LLC, and Historic Beaufort Foundation that upheld the Historic District Review Board’s approval of developer 303 Associates’ hotel and parking garage in downtown Beaufort; and 2) affirmed a decision by Circuit Court Judge R. Scott Sprouse in June 2023 that denied the request of plaintiffs West Street Farms, LLC and Mix Farms, LLC to overturn approvals granted by the City of Beaufort to 303 Associates, LLC for a new downtown hotel, apartments and parking garage. Judge Sprouse held that the request was improper given that a similar challenge had already been denied in Circuit Court.
The court said, in its Nov. 19 denial, “After careful consideration of the petition for rehearing, this court has discovered no material fact or principle of law that has been overlooked or disregarded, and hence, there is no basis for granting a rehearing. Accordingly, the petition for rehearing is denied.”
“The expediency with which the Court of Appeals rendered its decision on these requests for rehearing speaks to the frivolous nature of the challenges made by the plaintiffs,” Beaufort City Manager Scott Marshall said in a news release. “It’s unfortunate that their persistence in challenging properly made decisions has cost the taxpayers nearly $90,000 in legal fees, and the meter is still running.”
By rule, the plaintiffs have 30 days to petition the S.C. Supreme Court for a hearing to appeal the decisions rendered by the S.C. Court of Appeals. The S.C. Supreme Court can choose to hear the matter or reject the petition.
It appears it won’t take nearly that long.
“I’ve already given my lawyer the authority to go to the S.C. Supreme Court,” Trask told The Island News on Friday, Nov. 22. Executive Director Cynthia Jenkins, in a newsletter to HBF members emailed later that day, said she hoped the case would be heard by the state’s highest court, as well.
“They can say ‘yay’ or ‘nay,’” Trask said. “If they say ‘nay,’ I guess we’re done, if they say ‘yay,’ I guess we’ll have our time before the Supreme Court.”
Trask, who has been frustrated by the rulings on appeal, still finds the decisions intriguing.
“The court has said, in order to appeal [the approval of these buildings], you had to approve it at every step – conceptual, preliminary and finding,” Trask said. “As far as we know, there’s no case law that supports that. The Beaufort Code doesn’t say that.
“If this stands up, it’s going to be a wholesale change in the way projects are approved statewide,” he said. “Projects would be appealed at every level. It would be a monumental change to real estate approvals statewide.
“This has become a monumental case if this is upheld by the S.C. Supreme Court.”
Mike McCombs is the editor of The Island News and can be reached at TheIslandNews@gmail.com.
