Board of Zoning Appeals - Regular Meeting

Town of Hilton Head Island Board of Zoning Appeals, Monday, November 24, 2025. This is the audio test. Podium microphone left. Audio test. Podium microphone right. Deis microphone 6. Deis microphone 6. Deis microphone 5. Five on the deis. Pardon me. Microphone four. Four from the deis chair.

Microphone three. Vice chair. Mhm. This is microphone two. Audio test on two. This is microphone one. Testing one.

is here. Uh want to introduce our board members who will be hearing the appeal. Mr. Green, Mr. Johnson, Mr. Sackheim, Mr. Christian, and I am Miss Bis. Um first item on our meeting order is to adopt the agenda. Do I hear a motion to adopt the agenda as provided previously to the board? Motion to adopt the agenda. Thank you. Do a second. I'll second. Miss Fee seconded. All in favor say I. I. I.

That passes unanimously. And now we move next to the minutes from the previous meeting. Are there any changes uh to those minutes? Move acceptance as presented. Madam chair. Thank you. Do I have a second? Second. All in favor raise your hand. I

I unanimous vote. Thank you very much. Uh we do not have any unfinished business to consider at this time. Uh and our new business will involve an appeal uh being presented to the board today. uh as part of the procedures that we follow and these are written procedures that have previously been adopted by the board. Uh there will be no public comment allowed uh during the appeal hearing. Uh we do have an order that we follow during the appeal hearing and um that order basically consists of presentations followed by um questions by board members. So I'll go through that order uh fairly briefly. The first presentation will be by the appellant uh which as I understand it is u 1014 WHP LLC. Uh then there will be a presentation by staff. Then there will uh be a presentation by the property owner or agent and I understand Mr. Kubc uh will be presenting that. Uh then there will be a presentation by the permit holder which is Bufort Memorial Hospital and then there will be rebuttal periods uh from the appellant, the staff, the owner and the permit holder. Now the initial presentations are 20 minutes maximum in length and time will be kept by town staff. Um and we will be holding to that time schedule. The rebuttal periods for each party will be five minutes in length if needed. Um so at that time uh that all

of the rebuttal has ended then the board will um consider uh and vote upon uh the issue before the board. Uh let me just say that the board will have the opportunity to ask questions after each presentation or after each period of rebuttal. Uh now at this time um I would also like to announce that Miss Fee has recused herself from hearing this matter and she will step down while we are in the course of the hearing. Okay. So at this point I would ask the appellant to come forward uh and make their presentation.

Are you Mr. Lumasnney? I'm Mr. Cubec. You're Mr. Cubc? I am. So I'm going to be representing the appellent on this matter. Thank you very much. Mr. Lumasnne is going to be speaking. All right. At some point. Please be sure you speak into the mic. Yeah. And please remind me sometimes I have a tendency to talk a little softly. If you can't hear me, please well, tell me to speak louder. I'll probably be the one that interrupts you because if you don't speak loudly enough, I will not be able to hear you.

Understood. Okay. Well, good afternoon, members of the board. Um, my name is Ed Cubec and I'm with the law firm of Novin and Scarman. I am here with um Dave Lamaz, an owner of 1014 WHP LLC. I represent that company and they are the appellant in today's case. Um, my client is the owner of commercial property located at 1014 William Hilton Parkway. Um, this appeal concerns land use of the neighboring property at 1016 William Hilton Parkway and its impact on my client. Um, I do have a little presentation slide here today that I'm going to try to get through um, explaining what we're trying to accomplish today. um for everyone's edification. Um this slide is a little dated. Um this was taken a couple of months ago. This is what 1016 William Hilton Parkway looked at that time. It is the uh former Goodwill building. Um and if you look to the right of it would be my client's property. As of today, that building is no longer there. It is now basically a dirt patch. Um um which was cleared out in the last month or so. Uh here's a depiction of the two properties again from from above. 1016 to the left, my client's property 1014 to the right. And here is a depiction of the zoning ordinance map for Hilton Head Island, which uh shows you where the two properties are located. And they are located in the light commercial district. Um, on June, sorry, July 15th, 2015, WHP submitted a request for a formal written interpretation of section 16103C2 of the LMO for the town of Hilton Head. It was my client's understanding at that

point in time that the owner of the adjacent property at 1016 William Hilton Parkway intended to construct an emergency room urgent care facility medical facility on their property. Uh as I said both properties are located in the light commercial district. Um my father my my client further understood that development the development application for the building represented that the facility was was permitted was a permitted use within the light commercial district within the classification of other health services. Now 10 W 1014 WHP contends that the planned use of the property as an emergency room urgent care medical facility does not comply with the express purpose of the light commercial district and is expressly prohibited by the exclusion of medical clinics under LMO section 16103C2. My client further contests whether the planned emergency urgent medical care center is an allowed use under any of the permissible uses within the light commercial district zoning ordinance. Therefore, 1014 WHP sought to obtain a formal written interpretation of the zoning ordinance from the town of Hilton Head and submitted that in July of 2025. Specifically, my client sought an interpretation as to the scope and meaning of medical clinics as used in the zoning ordinance and its application or its applicability to or differentiation from the planned usage of the property. He also, my client also sought whether the planned usage of the property as an emergency room urgent care center with ambulance services comports with the expressed purpose of the light commercial district and both the definition and intent of other health services.

In response, the town of Hilton Head issued an interpretation on August 12th, 2025. It came in the form of a letter from Shaun Lininger who at that time was the assistant town manager for the town and based on the information that was provided to the town by the developer um that the town understood the property would be used for the following purposes. The property the facility will offer emergency care, urgent care and imaging services all in one location. The facility will contain approximately 10 to 12 exam rooms, a CT scanner, X-ray, ultrasound, and lab services on site. The facility will operate 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, and will be staffed by qualified emergency physicians. No patients will stay overnight or have an inpatient status. The second definition that was profered was this facility is outpatient only and primarily provides clinical related treatment and diagnostic services. It does not operate as a nursing home or hospital and does not offer overnight medical or surgical care. Now these were the definitions offered by the developer and owner in the development process to the town. Now, the town recognized that the term medical clinics uh is not defined by the LMO and the town used a resource known as the planners dictionary to define the term. I don't know if the the the board has a copy or is familiar with the planners dictionary. Um I have [clears throat] examples if you

does have a copy. In fact, we um our packets are provided in advance of the meeting so that we have a chance to read through everything.

Okay. All right. Well, um in so doing that, um the town [clears throat] offer two definitions of a medical clinic. And one is a facility owned or operated by one or more physicians, dentists, chiropractors, or other licensed practitioners of the healing arts for the examination and treatment of persons solely on an outpatient basis. And the second definition is offices organized as a unified facility to provide medical or dental treatment as contrasted with an unrelated group of such offices but not including bed patient care. Now based on the proper definition, the town um smearily concluded without any analysis that the proposed use for this emergency urgent care center is considered health services and could also be classified as other office uses. It basically disregarded our argument that a medical clinic, which is exempted from the definition, was what the intended use for this property actually is. Based on that determination by the town, we appealed. My client appealed on August 28, 2005. Timely appeal and my client is now seeking a reversal of the town's determination um based on the standards set forth in section 106 to 103T4D. Now, um two two components to to my client being here. Um the first is to prove that there was an error of judgment on behalf of the town in its analysis. Um the second is also my client is an agrieved person by all this. Um, I'm going to address the first

thing I'm going to address is actual the actual town's analysis or lack of analysis as to whether or not this property is a medical clinic and does not fall within these permissible uses within the light commercial district. And before I get to that, the first thing we need to worry about or talk about is interpretation of a statute or of an LMO. And the first thing you want to look at is what's the intent? What's the expressed intent behind the statute or the LMO? And in this case, it specifically says the light in the LMO, the purpose of a light commercial district is to provide lands for light commercial uses such as offices, banks, restaurants, and lower intensity retail sales and service uses. Permitted uses are generally autoor oriented and easily accessed. Now the the it it the key to this is the words light and the phrase lower intensity. Those can't be ignored or minimized. The definition used by the town and the and and the owner of 1016 to describe their property, okay, basically says that we are going to be providing emergency care urgent care facility that operates 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, staffed by emergency physicians. These are not these are not light uses. These are not lower intensity uses. You have you have ambulatory service that's available that can be going into these places into this into this specific property 247 24 hours, 7 days a week, 365 days a year. You have someone staffing this. You have emergency physicians staffing this property overnight. And plus you have among other things you have a number of medical services that are being provided. This is an emergency

center based in a light commercial district. So right off the bat our position is the expressed intent behind a light commercial district is not met by this facility and that's the first threshold issue. Now, if you look specifically at the uh definition of other health services, which is what the property owner at 1016 applied for and said and represented that this was a permitted use, it provides that uh a facility other than a hospital or nursing home that primarily provides clinically related diagnostic treatment or rehabilitative rehabilitative services including alcohol, drug abuse, and other me and mental health services. This use type does not include medical clinics and doctors or dentist offices or post incarceration facilities. So right there in the definition of other health services it does not allow for medical clinics. When we define we defined what a medical clinic was. The town gave us that definition. Now if you apply apply the definition given by the town based on the proposed uses that were submitted by the owner of 1016 you can only come up with one conclusion and that is that this is a medical clinic and I don't know how you can get the town can argue um realistically that they exercised sound and prudent judgment in determining that it wasn't a medical clinic. And I'll just go through briefly I'll just go through some of the some of the some of the comparisons here or some of the definitions. In the in the in the medical clinic definition, it refers to a facility. In both the proposed use proposed use proposed uses, excuse me, it defines itself as a facility right off the bat and that's operated by physicians. Well, in both of the uses, it refers to there being

physicians staffed by staffing this this facility. Um it also says that the um um it would only be used on an outpatient basis. That's a definition of a medical clinic, a facility operated by physicians for for healing arts on an outpatient basis. Well, the proposed uses specifically say it's staffed by qualified emergency physicians, no patients with stay overnight or have an inpatient status. The second definition says this is a facility that's outpatient only and provides clinical related treatment. Clinical right there and it says it right in the definition itself and diagnostic services. It does not operate as a nursing home or hospital and does not offer overnight medical or surgical care. So our position is that the town um in its interpretation completely completely misapplied itself and lacked sufficient judge and reasonable judgment in determining that this was not a medical clinic. Now, as a fallback in its written interpretation, the town basically kind of exceeded the scope of what we were requesting and said, "Well, you know what? Um, we're we're we're not going to um we're not going to kind of look at it as a medical clinic and the other uh um the other um services uses. We're going to say, hey, we're going to say, you know, maybe it squeezes in, maybe this use squeezes in as other office uses." something that the I don't believe the actual property owner ever applied for in their development permit was based on this partic particular use, but town said, "You know what? We're going to we're going to try and squeeze this one in anyway." And again, this use, which is section 106103F2, um it says office uses other than a contractor's office. This includes establishments primarily accommodate the

provisions of business services and professional services in an office setting off other office uses in an office setting. And then it goes on to define a whole bunch of of of uses for uh examples. And then the next section and then the very end it says this type this use al also includes offices providing health care services including medical treatment, nursing care, preventive care, diagnosis and physical therapy in an office setting. This is not an office. What is being developed is an urgent care center with with facilities to treat patients and examination rooms. It is not a doctor's office. And then the very end of the definition it says such health care offices uses do not include hospitals or other health service uses where health care services are provided in a more intensive manner and in a more institutional setting. Well, that's what we have here in this case. We have a facility that's offering emergency medical care, urgent care. It provides for CT scanners, X-rays, ultrasounds, lab services, and is staffed by qualified emergency physicians. You can't get much more intensive than that and not call yourself a hospital. This is not a doctor's office. This is an emergency urgent care center and it does not fall into the use under other office uses. Again, this is something that the town interpreted in itself without really going beyond what we asked for interpretation, but I wanted to bring it up before the before the before the board of zoning appeals. Um, the second qualification, so basically substantively we believe that the town uran judgment and that in itself is warrant sufficient justification to reverse the decision of the of the town. Uh the second part of the component that that my client will establish or has established or should establish is that it's an agreved party.

Um uh Mr. Lamezn will will will talk to you a little bit more about how what he as the operator and owner of his of his uh property has encountered. Um but I do want to say with regard to finding that my client is an agrieved person, the um application itself when you when when you seek to get a written order uh a written uh interpretation from the town um the requirement of the LMO in itself says that the interpretation can only be sought by persons with a direct interest in the matter. requested for interpretation, a direct interest. Well, the town considered my my client's application uh for written interpretation. They never contested that 1014 WHP uh had in had a direct interest in its determination. Never came up. And so by that acceptance, um it's implied or it's assumed that my client isn't a grieved person because the town recognized that he had a direct interest in all of this. Um, in addition to that, what we're considering here today, we're we're looking at a an action taken by the town, which in effect creates a by their definition, they're creating a a use to support this building, this project, this urgent care center that's not permitted by the LMO. So, it's in fact, it's a de facto text amendment is what this town is trying to accomplish. And in that regard, we have had my client has had no public hearing before planning commission uh about this matter. Um and you you've have what's essentially it's it comes down to

essentially he has a bundle of rights that he had an expectation coming into when he bought this property of types of commercial uses which were like commercial uses would be in my be in my my zoning area here. And what you have now is you have a taking of those interests by a town interpretation which makes which injures him and and you he'll hear some testimony or comment from him today about what's actually occurred. I mean he has landlords he has he rents his property to a tenant which is a operates a restaurant and they are not too pleased about the fact that there's an urgent care center coming in next door right next to where people are sitting out having their hamburgers in the backyard at uh the back part of their restaurant and all that goes on with having ambulances coming in there and emergency systems emergency u um um cases when you know you've got somebody 30 40 feet away trying to enjoy a nice dinner out with their children in the back of a restaurant. And Mr. Lamaz will describe that to you a little bit more. Um, you may hear some some and I'll reserve for rebuttal some uh if there's other arguments about uh my client being a grieved person. I was reserved that for rebuttal.

[clears throat]

So basically in a nutshell what it comes down to is is my client's interpretation uh what it sought uh the the interpretation issued by the town of Hilton Head was erroneous. It based on faulty logic and it it shows a complete lack of judgment in its decision. Um it there can be no finding based on reality and based on the definition that was supplied by the town by the owner of 1016 William Hilton Parkway that this is not a medical clinic and because it is a medical clinic. It does not fall within the permitted use within the light light commercial district. And likewise, it does not fit the definition of other office uses that the town unilaterally decided they were going to put forward in their interpretation. And based on that, we respectfully request that the board of zoning appeals reverse the decision from the town, reverse the interpretation, and issue an order accordingly. At this point, I'd like to have Mr. Lumosn speak or can we can defer that to

um let's have Mr. Lamezn speak and then we'll have questions for both of you I'm sure. Thank you.

Hello. My name is David Lazny. I own 1014 William Hilton Parkway together with my wife Sharon. If I lead back to when we purchased Hey, uh it's Michael Conley for the record, senior planner. I just wanted to remind you that the rules and procedures allow Oh, we have skipped we have skipped staff presentation. So, we we cannot do this. That's what the the applicant ran out of time. The uh the audible timer went off that 20-minut timer for the applicant. Okay. So now we would move on to the the next step which would be staff. Yes ma'am. Very good. Thank you. Um we'll have to save you for later.

So we'll have questions now for Mr. Kubc if the board has any questions at this time. And just just so I understand um I thought the process was applicant staff and then the permit holder that Mr. Lamezni will come after that. Okay. Thank you. Any questions from the board? Uh did you mention something about um ambulance service? Yes. And that will be part of the operation? Yes, that's part of that's part of their application for the town and it's part of the definition that was provided to the town. Okay. Thank you.

Do do you know if the ambulances can bring patients to the uh this uh facility as opposed to simply taking them from the facility to an emergency room? My understanding is that they bring people in and then they I don't even know what happens after that point, but my understanding was they have the ability to bring people to this and that's one of the design purposes for this is to have a facility where they can treat somebody on an emergency basis directly. uh to the extent of how much medical treatment is provided here as opposed to being shipped off to transport to a hospital, I can't answer that and the the owner for that property or developer would have to do that.

Does that make sense? Talk to me again about your definition of a medical clinic. I I was confused by Sure. a couple of your statements.

Okay. specifically um well the the what's defined as a medical clinic okay was the town provided that definition okay and they defined a medical clinic as a facility operated by one or more physicians of the um for the examination and treatment of persons solely on an outpatient basis. So it's a facility staffed by physicians treating people on an outpatient basis. The second diff definition was offices organized as a unified facility to provide medical treatment um as contrasted with unrelated group of such offices but not including bed patient care. So it's basically the second definition was basically a facility providing medical treatment that didn't include bed patient care. Those are those are the definitions that were profered by the town. Okay. So applying those two definitions to what the applicant oh I'm sorry to what 1016 William Hilton Parkway described as its business. Okay, their definitions are directly on point or co-extensive with the proposed uses. A facility staffed by physicians treating people on an outpatient basis. And that's what's def the the two proposed uses that are defined by the by the owner of the property basically said that's what we have.

So you're saying that is a medical clinic definition or it's not. It is. It is. This is the town has said that a medical clinic is permitted. You know, the medical clinic is not a permitted use. It's an exception to the other to the to the permitted uses. You cannot have a medical clinic. We're saying that this is a medical clinic. Okay. Therefore, it is not an acceptable use. And and what leads you to believe that the Hilton Head Fire and Rescue Department is going to deliver emergency patients to this facility? I don't know if it's the I it's it would be there's there's ambulatory services. I don't know who those ambulatory service are, but that was provided in the application to the to the

when you dial 911, fire and rescue is going to respond and they're going to take them to the hospital. Well, the application by the application the the development plan application and process for this property specifically refers to ambulatory services. And if I'm not mistaken, this can be clarified. There's a facility to this facility. Yes. By by whose judgment? Uh that I do not know. Okay. Thank you.

Could we go back to your slide that um had the definition of other office uses and let's go to the very end of that I think the second page of that slide. Well, maybe this is Yes, this is it. This last sentence, um, the way I read it, the word and is used in the conjunctive. So that would include um health care services are provided in a more intensive manner and in a more institutional setting. So you focused on the intensive nature uh that you you say would be involved here. I don't see how this fits into a more institutional setting.

Okay. Well, uh I I believe that when you refer to institutional, you're along the lines of a hospital where you have facilities, where you have examination rooms, where you have um CT scanners, where you have X-ray components and ultrasounds, and you have lab services on site. Um all of those uh to me comply with or are are indicative of having an institutional type setting. There are separate exam rooms. Um again, it's also housed by physicians uh who are there 24/7 kind of like you don't you don't typically have um um a standalone medical office hounds housed by a physician 247. So to me the those factors are indicative of being an institutionalized setting and

and I think that raises the point that I'm really concerned about because um it's one thing to say someone made a wrong decision but it's another thing to say that someone abused their discretion in making that decision and that word institutional I think uh is can be interpreted more broadly than your interpreting it. Um, so that was that was the reason I asked the question. Thank you. I understood. Thank you. I have a question. Yes, sir.

On this slide, uh, where you you reference to the proposed facilities, CT scanner, ultrasound, and lab services. Do you know if any other urgent care facilities in Hilton Head offer those services? Um, I do not know for a fact whether or not, but there may be people here who can answer that question for you today. Uh, Dr. Jordan is here and he might be able to answer that for you. Thank you. I I know at least that Main Street Medical has those some of those facilities because I've experienced them as a patient.

I'll be happy to answer any questions that the board may have. You had one, Mr. Christian Bell who uh when you call 911 where do you go? 911 directs the EMS Buford County where help to the nearest emergency department. So patients will be going to that facility if they call 911 911 spec if they were if they were going to hospital your urgent care question other other urgent care facilities. your question.

I I ask if if anyone knows if other urgent care facilities in Hilton Head offer these types of services, CT scanners, ultrasound, lab services on site. They do offer X-rays. I know that for a fact. Chair, if you don't mind, um staff, real quick, um just as a reminder, uh the meeting is being recorded and broadcast. So, uh, for any testimony if we could. Thank you, ma'am. Thank you, Michael. Any other questions for Mr. Kubc? And we'll hear from staff at this time. Thank you for your consideration. Thank you.

Good afternoon, Madam Chair, members of the of the board. Um, just for the record, there's a gentleman spoke off the mic. if he could come up and state his name and his affiliation for the record, please. Please step forward. Thank you again, board, for letting me speak. Patrick Jordan, physician, 28 years here, living on the island and practicing medicine on the island for 28 years. Thank you.

Thank you. Good afternoon again. Sean Ler, deputy town manager, also serving as the land management uh official, ordinance official uh as we've been searching for a director and recently hired a a planning director. So, I think my time as land management ordinance official will will be be shortlived here as he gets on board. So, but I was the land management ordinance official as this application came before us. I made the interpretation uh that is before you and been appealed before you uh this afternoon. Um, one, just to be clear, I I want to make sure we state what the what the appeal is for. Um, and in your packet, I included a lot of information. Staff include a lot of information that it was a staff report, the applicant's narrative and their application. We had uh town additional information from the town giving you some additional background on on this this item. We also included you received today the applicant presentation and there was also a letter from beer memorial hospital as the property owner that this this this interpretation impacts. There was a letter from them as well. Um that was all included in your packet. Specifically, the the appeal before you this afternoon is that the applicants appealed a formal written interpretation uh for a facility providing clinically related outpatient emergency and imaging services at 1016 William Hilton Parkway as a permitted use within the LC which is the light commercial district. Uh the applicant has already shared with you um a site plan or location map I should say a location map uh as well as the zoning map. I don't have anything to add to that that we we agree that's where it's located. That's that's what it's zoned. Um the EPAN had also shared what the proposed use of this site is and this was part of Buer Memorial Hospital's application to us to the town uh as far as how they intended to utilize this property. Uh in fact, back in

and bear with me, I'm going to hop around to some different slides here. A little over a year ago, about 18 months ago, May 28th of 2024, staff uh had received a zoning determination request from Mr. Baxley, the president CEO of uh Buer Memorial Hospital, uh inquiring about this property and whether or not the proposed use was a permitted use on this property. At that point in time, staff uh I believe Sean Colin was the land management ordinance official at that point in time uh issued this zoning determination confirming that this is in fact the um a permitted use for this property. The applicant then relied on that application and submitted a number of other applications to to to basically put into effect development plans and design review approvals that allow them to submit for demolition permits and building permits for this for this for this property. I have those here on the screen for you. They were also part of your your your your application or your your your packet this afternoon. Um, so we received then after based on that that zoning determination, we received a development plan uh review application on November 12th of 2024. That was ultimately approved on May 14th of 2025. We also received a a two separate major corridor review applications. The first one was a a conceptual review. Uh the conceptual review was actually submitted on December 23rd of 2024. Uh then it was heard by our DRB, our design review board. We have a design review board that reviews anything that's within the corridor overlay district. This property is within 450 ft of William Hilton Parkway and therefore is subject to architecture review standards. So our DRB, which meets publicly, has published agendas. They met on January 14th and again on on February 25th to review the conceptual plans for this project. We then received the final application on

March 26th of 2025. DRB design review board also then reviewed that application on May 8th. Again, public meeting, public agenda. Um that is posted on our website, made available on on April 8th of of this year. Uh ultimately then the the DRB approval was granted on May 6th of 2025. I I share with you all those dates because those dates are important because each one of those actions is an appealable action. Um it has that same 14-day requirement. So based on those approvals, May 14th and May 6th, that starts a 14-day clock. um um and when the appeal deadline has to happen. Uh you see those I'm sorry DRB actually has a 30-day um but you see those dates that are here on the screen as far as when the appeal should be filed if there was an objection to the development plan review or the design review being approved for this site. Town did not receive any appeals to those decisions that were made back in May of last year or of this year. Um, fast forward then to well, and there's one more point on that I want to make because it's it's an important point as we as we contemplate this this appeal. Um, and that is the fact that section 162-103.R of the land I apologize I'm bouncing back and forth on microphones. Jacob of of the town's land management ordinance states that a written interpretation shall be binding on subsequent and in our staff in the letter that we submitted uh on October 25th that we have that emphasized are binding on subsequent decisions by the official and applying the same provision of this ordinance in the same circumstance. Therefore, any decision by the official prior to a written interpretation is not affected here. Here the written interpretation was issued on August 12th and does not apply

to decisions prior to the issuance date. Specifically, it does not affect the DPR the DRB approvals that I have noted here on the screen that occurred in May of 2025. I want to make sure we're clear on that that if if the board finds that we that that I staff aired in the in the interpretation here, it affects everything moving forward. It is not a look backwards onto those previously approved development plans and and design review considerations. So based on on as noted here on the screen on se on July 15th, we received a request for uh a written interpretation as to how we arrived at uh permitting this use on the property consistent with that May 28 letter that on 20 May 28, 2024 letter that I had on the screen previously. Um we answered two questions. uh and this was the applicant's letter to us asking for the for the formal interpretation. The two parts were the scope and meaning of medical clinics as used in the Zoiden ordinance as as in its applicability to the to or differentiation from planned usage of the property. In question number two, whether the planned uses of the property as an emergency room, urgent care center with ambulance services comports with expressed purpose of the LC district and both the definition and intent of other health services. Uh based on that, we then issued a a formal written interpretation on August 12th. Again, this was in your packet. This lays out some background information just affirming the properties that we're talking about, affirming the the questions that we were asked, the zoning for the property. Uh this is the same language that was previously shared before about what the proposed use of the property is [snorts] and then ultimately into the definitions that were utilized on

determining whether or not this use was or is a permitted use on this property. Uh so we start with the other health services uh 1610-103 C.2 a facility other than a hospital or nursing home that primarily provides clinical related diagnostic treatment or rehabilitative services including alcohol drug abuse and mental health services. This use type does not include medical clinics or doctors or dentist offices or post incarnation facilities. So the first thing is in that first sense we need to qualify is this a hospital or this is a nursing home. And so the next two definitions that are provided in that interpretation letter are what a hospital is and what a nursing home is. Um in the interest of time and only have 20 minutes I'm not going to read each one of those but they're included in your packet. Uh and at the end of the day staff determined that this is not a hospital because it does not include uh overnight stays. uh does not meet the definition of of hospital that's that's listed in in in this section. We also then look at nursing home and whether or not this definition is a nursing home. Clear this is not a nursing home. There is not people staying here living here uh receiving care um overnight. Staff also included um based on some considerations with the town attorney in reviewing this request. We did also list in here the other office use where there was a quite a bit of conversation about this already. specifically that last section uh that's highlighted here. We referenced this as a could. We did not rely on this definition. There was more information we would need to have to determine, but this was something that we did consider in looking at it. Our reliance was on the definition of other health services. That's what our reliance was on and that was what our interpretation has been and and continues to be that this is other health services. The last thing that we need to address in that definition though is that last sentence. It says this use type does not include medical clinics, doctors or dentist office or post incarnation facilities. [snorts]

Uh and with that we agree with the applicant that or the appellent that this is not a doctor's office. Um however the code does not describe or does not provide a definition of medical clinics in the definition section. When that happens, the code provides us opportunities to go to other sources not to have a specific definition but to get guidance. And so in this case, one of the the sources that is cited is a planner's dictionary. Uh a planner's dictionary for the as as actually someone has it up here. Our planners dictionary is something that's put together by the American Planning Association. Has a a a collection of definitions from around the country to help help inform planners, code administrators, and others to how others think about this code. And in that there are a couple different definitions that talk about medical clinics and what they are. One or more physicians, chiropractors, lic practitioners of the healing arts for the examination and treatments of persons on an outpatient basis. Medical clinics are offices organized as a unified facility provide medical or dental treatment as contrasted with an unrelated group of offices including uh not including bed patient care. Uh as we looked at those two definitions of medical clinics, these in our opinion tended to be more office oriented. They tended to be more constrained to um less intense uh uses whereas here we were providing urgent care. These are not scheduled appointments. These are this this is a different type of use and falls into that category of other health services which is a facility that provides clinically related and that is what the use is that's described above. It is clinically related. There are there are exam rooms there are services that are provided. Um yes it does provide amulatoratory care uh or am amulatoratory services. um how many ambulances, how if the

ambulance even goes there, that is at the discretion of the fire department and the fire the fire rescue department. This facility, as we understand, is being designed to be able to accept ambulances if the ambulances so choose to go there, but there's no requirement that ambulances are required to go there. They could go there, but they don't have to. Um typically on a case like this and and talking with the fire department, uh that would be at their discretion and it would depend on whether or not this was an emergency situation. If it's an emergency situation, they're going to a hospital. But if it's something that's low acuity, something that can doesn't need uh immediate something lower acuity like a stitches or something like that effect, that's something that they can handle at this at a facility like this. And that'll be something that the work that the fire department will have to work out. But the point is is that as this is being designed, it has the ability to accept, but it is not required that ambulances will go to this facility. [snorts] And based on all that, what where we arrived at is consistent with where we were in May of last year, is that this is a a an other health service use which is an allowable principal use in the else in the Lake Commercial District. The last item that we received then is the appeal in response to the 812 um formal written interpretation. That appeal was submitted on time. It has to be submitted within 14 days. We received it on 8:25. I believe the due date was August 26th. We received it the day before. Uh and just for clarity um because the applicant started to touch upon this the an application can be submitted an appeal application be submitted by any person that's agreved by the decision or interpretation who alleges the official error in making a decision may file an appeal. A person is agrieved because in that previous sentence was degraded is a

key word. person has agreed that there is some special or particularized injury to that person or that person's property resulting from the decision or written interpretation. And that section I'm reading from is 16-2-103.t.2. And then finally, uh, in your staff or in your in your packet, there is a staff report. I've covered all the items that are here in the staff report. Um, certainly I can answer any questions on those items. Um, also included in the report though are your requirements for what you what's the board's grounds for appeal. Um, and then we go through and there is a discussion on on what the code says as far as the criteria that the board should consider. I won't read these to you, but you can see them. There's criteria one. There is criteria two, criteria three, and those are the three criteria that the board should review uh and determine whether or not an inter whether or not an appeal should be granted and I'd be happy to answer any questions. [snorts]

I I I have I have a few questions. So first [clears throat] question, your understanding is that let's say someone cuts themselves or breaks their arm that the uh town ambulance uh service could make a decision to to transport by ambulance that person to this facility as opposed to the emergency room. could. So, at any time during the day or nighttime since it's open 24 hours a day, ambulance could be coming into the facility. Correct.

Uh the second you've the town has determined that this facility is not a medical clinic. Correct.

Yeah. I looked at the um I think the largest hospital in the state is MUSC in Charleston and they have descriptive material on their website and they discuss three types of facilities uh for immediate care emergency rooms, retail clinics which are located they gave as an example at Walmart uh and urgent care clinics. So, you don't consider this proposed facility to be any type of a clinic? I don't know what their definition that they're utilizing, but MUSC um from from our LMO um they are providing well here let me switch back over. They are providing clinically related diagnostic treatment rehabilitated services.

Okay. And do you know if the facility will have any beds for patients who are there to recuperate or for any other purpose? That'll be a question for the property owner when when they have an opportunity to come up. But I'm not aware. They're not they're not there to stay overnight. They're not there to have surgical s surgical procedures. there. Now, if if someone's there and could someone lay in the bed while they're while they're getting checked out perhaps, but I I I don't know the particulars on that. Okay. Thank you. Not to the point where it impacts the use, the definition of the use. Right. Thank you. Any other questions?

Sean, in your in the staff report, it gives a definition of an agrieved person is defined by one who has experienced a special or particularized injury to themselves or their property resulting from a decision or interpretation. Where did that come from? that came from section 16-2-103T2, which is our procedures for an appeal. It says basically the second item there says here's what an appeal is for, here's what the purpose is, and number two is who's able to file uh the appeal. And I I could probably pull it up if you want to see the actual

So, it's out of the LMO. It's out of the LMO. Well, I mean it it alludes to the fact that someone has to have experienced an injury

and since the facility hasn't even been built yet, is that a how does that work? I think it might call in a favor from either the town attorney or the staff attorney to help us uh with withstanding when it comes to what's agrieved. Afternoon, Britney War, the attorney for the town. Um, yes, he read it completely correct that it has to be an agreed party who has had some type of injury. If you put this in a separate situation whereby somebody um who is building a home and their interpretation has failed to provide them the ability to build the home, that would be them being a grief party. Correct. It has not been stated in anything I have read or been provided or is included in your back your backup a description of what the agrieved party is saying the injury is. So to at this point I have not been provided any information that would state what the injury um is being claimed. I guess my question is, you know, it says experience past tense,

correct? At the time of the filing, they would have had to have had an injury or or a result of the decision. And the facility hasn't even been built yet. That is correct. So, they it be difficult to experience a an a grievance if there hasn't been anything there. to agree. I have nothing to say against that statement. I'm I'm [clears throat] just trying to figure it out. Okay. Correct. Thank you.

Sean, you indicated in your presentation that there had been at least three public meetings and I assume that in accordance with the the law that public notice was uh made available prior to those public meetings.

Yes. So in that case the the design review board the the notice is posting of the agenda uh on the town's uh on the town's website. Um that is the that is the posting requirement for a design review board. Uh in this for the for the development plan review we have since changed our code u but the time at that current time that was a staff level review. So there was no public meetings on the development plan review just on the architectural review but there were three separate meetings.

All right. Thank you. I'm always a bit surprised that um that folks don't use the town's website uh more often and keep more uh a breast of what is actually occurring. Um, for example, just for the edification of those who are listening, um, you know, we get board packets several days before the board meeting, but all of the material in the board packets are available on the website to the public. So, members of the public can review all of this material prior to a meeting as well. I find that to be very useful about things that I'm interested in. Um, and I think that, you know, folks who are involved in business community might make better use of it. So, any other questions?

Thank you, Sean. Thank you. Now, next on um the meeting outline that I have is a presentation uh by the property owner or agent. And Michael, I see you uh approaching me. Yes, chair. Uh the the letter's pulled up and ready. Pardon? The letter from the um property owner is ready for his presentation. We were just wanting to make sure that that was pulled up for him. Okay.

So, this was this was including your packet. This is from uh represent or uh I believe this is legal council for Buer Memorial Hospital. Um very good. Thank you. Is there anyone from Buford Memorial? Representative, come forward, please. Good day. Would you state your name? Yes, ma'am. Uh Russell Baxley, president and CEO at Bu Memorial Hospital.

And I appreciate you guys giving me the opportunity, the board, to uh kind of state our case, if you will. Uh I won't read the letter. I think you each had the letter in your packets. So, um I I'm going to do my best to maybe clear up some confusion because there is a lot of confusion and maybe rightfully so about this facility. Uh because it is not a medical clinic. It isn't other health services. And to me, as I'm driving down here, I'm hearing listening to CNN or Fox or whichever one you listen to. But right now, there's a lot of emphasis on healthcare and the cost of health care and where it's going. And so what is unique about this facility in particular is it is a 247 emergency department, but it is also an urgent care clinic. The reason we have these two combined is because we want patients to be able to arrive at a location and not only receive highquality care and accessible care, but the care that is at the right cost of the patient. What I mean by that is this facility has the opportunity to allow patients to seek urgent care services, receive urgent care billings, but also seek 24/7 emergency room services uh and seek emergency room billing by way of example. And so what that means is is you don't have to guess the patients don't have to guess which which location to go to. Do I go to an emergency room? Do I go to an urgent care? It comes to one location and we help the patient with an acuity based triage system that puts them in that right location. So, it's very patient focused uh in the way that we're approaching health care, which should ultimately lower the cost of care because ultimately those who heir on the side of a true just only emergency room, they're going to experience about $1,800 to $2,000 difference in a bill when they receive that billing back from the hospital that they chose versus had they gone to an urgent care. So, the reason that there's so much confusion on all the presentations, is it is it an emergency room? Is it an urgent care? Well, it does both, but it's definitely not a medical clinic because medical clinics aren't open 247. Medical clinics

don't staff with emergency room trained physicians, board-certified. Uh they also don't have 24/7 CT services and ultrasound services and model complex labs that can run lab services for these patients. And so, in our opinion, where the town put us in those other health services category, that is appropriately labels labeled as such. Now to answer the questions to overnight beds, there are no overnight beds. There are no surgical capabilities here. So we will not be observing patients overnight. They will not be admitted into what we call in healthcare an admitted or observation status. Um we won't have specialists on call here that will come in and perform emergency service services or surgery overnight. Um those patients actually most likely those who need to be admitted or need emergency surgery will be bypassed. Uh they will bypass our facility which brings me really to EMS. So, can we receive EMS transport? The answer to that is yes. Now, what we will not receive this facility is what we call code 3 transports, which are those emergency life-saving transports. Uh those will automatically bypass this facility because EMS, Hilton Head Fire and Rescue, will be acutely aware of what capabilities we have and anything such as chest pain uh that needs emergency surgery, stroke by way of example, would most likely bypass us and go to the nearest hospital uh and appropriately so. uh we would receive lower level emergency room uh EMS transports and a lot of those transports can actually go uh without lights and sirens because the number one question we get well what about the lights and sirens? Uh well those lower level transports a lot of times they can go without sirens or lights. Uh most intrafacility transports uh between ERS and hospitals or hospital to hospitals don't run sirens by way of example. They don't need to unless it's life- saving or life-threatening in order to uh clear and move traffic. So what limited and little uh EMS traffic we do believe we would get uh mostly would be lower level uh and would not typically run sirens and uh and uh

lights if they do uh most of the time it's in the discretion of EMS to turn those off when approaching a medical care facility within 250 yards. So even at the beautiful moral hospital most of the times we actually don't receive EMS with sirens blaring. They do that for the comfort of the patients at the hospital the comfort of the surrounding neighborhoods etc. uh when they arrive and they're so close to the facility, they norally turn those sirens off and we'll enter only with lights. And so uh we've answered a lot of those questions as we proposed this new and unique facility uh you know about a year ago now when we got asked to say, "Well, talk to us about EMS." On the plus side for EMS, you know, I hear all over and over again how short staffed a lot of the first responders are and how short staff EMS be for Kelly Hilton Head Fire are. So having another location to otherwise maybe drop off a lower acuity patient is to the advantage of first responders and EMS because what that allows them to do is put that truck which is responding to calls back in service quicker so they can be more responsive uh more agile and more effective in what they do within the Hilton Head area because they now have a new location to drop people off at. Um, so we think that would actually be to their advantage. And I'm not putting words in Hilton Head fire EMS's mouth, but um, having done healthcare administration for 20 years and hospital administration for 15, um, more access for EMS is a good thing in order to be able to respond quicker, um, to those that need their help. Uh, the only other thing I would point out, and you know, I think this has been good discussion, and I appreciate uh, the town's response, but uh, um, Mr. Chris, I I would agree with you. The only thing we have not heard as well uh at this point is you know how the party has agreved uh and so I think we speak to that uh in our letter that we don't believe that the party has been agreved uh by our particular development of this property of this other health services which is the freestanding emergency department in urgentia care. Um so with that uh I'll open it up to questions uh or anything

maybe that I left out that I could answer for the board. Go ahead. Talk to me about your the primary patients you're going to see. I mean, I I I I don't foresee you seeing someone who's suffering from a heart attack, um, who needs another service, who has a broken bone that would need a a a reduction in an operating room. Are those the types of services you're going to be performing?

No, sir. Again, I think anyone, especially if they're being brought by EMS, uh, you know, for those particular services, and EMS does a very good job at triaging in the field, obviously, um, they're well trained, well qualified, and they will immediately know what location a patient will need to go to based on the presenting symptoms in the field. Uh [snorts] so anything that looks to need surgical intervention uh cardiac caization uh maybe uh neurosurgery uh neurointerventional radiology such as a stroke anything such as that nature will automatically bypass uh a free emergency department will go directly to a hospital. Our patient population is going to be of the lower acuity side. um you know unspecified belly pain, uh broken bones, uh someone who needs uh rehydration by way of example, uh diagnostic capabilities, uh sprains, uh you know, mostly orthopedic in nature, um flu, COVID, uh you know, uh respiratory in nature, those those sorts of things. Uh workers compensation would be something else we would see there.

A lot of those would be walk-in, would they not, rather than an ambulance transport. Yes, sir. Uh I mean again we we find if and let's we believe the volumes here you know would approach maybe 50 to 60 a day uh in a 24-h hour period. So you can you can kind of see the uh the number of patients we'd expect to see in a 24-h hour period. Uh of those I would I would suspect very few of those would arrive via EMS. Most of them be by personal vehicle or walk-in. What about psychiatric and drug overdoses?

Uh we we would be able to see psychiatric patients. Um now we have a the only psychiatric hospital uh in the county at Bumoral Hospital. So if someone were to arrive in a psychiatric uh crisis, they would most likely be transported to be more hospital which would be the intent. Um drug overdoses uh we could we would probably treat stabilize and and ship out to an appropriate facility.

And just just a comment to your note about the ambulances, you know, turning off their lights and sirens. um the property that I manage backs to Hilton Head Hospital and to the emergency room of Hilton Head Hospital and they turn off the sirens as soon as they hit that main drag coming in. I've never received a complaint about, you know, an ambulance, you know, disturbing the residential character of the community. Agreed. And they they do the same view from Memorial when they're coming down Rebo Road within about 250 yards by TCL. They're turning off their sirens and approaching only by lights at that point. That's all I have, Madam Chair, for now.

When an ambulance brings a patient, is there a spec will there be a specific entrance way or will it be the front entrance that they come to?

Uh there are there are two entrances, one off Duninga's alley and one off of William Hill Parkway. And the ambulance entrance is on the back. So that would be off of uh Duninga's alley. Uh they could arrive via either way. Obviously, wherever EMS is approaching, they they'll enter. um and they could arrive at the back of the facility where the EMS entrance would be. Um they would arrive there and back up to set entrance. But you know, I would suspect that um that again would be far and few in between and and we may get a few that would transport out as well, a psychiatric patient by way of example or someone else that maybe arrives uh and needs a higher level of care and they would transport the patient from that same entrance at the back of the facility.

Thank you. And in terms of the imaging services, would a patient could a patient come in and just request imaging services or is that tangential to whatever the injury or problem at the patient? It would be tangential to the to the injury. They would this would not be an independent diagnostic testing facility. So it would be tangential to either the urgent care visit or the emergency room visit. Yes, sir. Thank you. Do I do have one question? I just you had mentioned that 50 or 60 trips per day. Is that what you anticipate for ambulance?

No, just that's total visits per day. I you know out of those I two or three would be ambulance in my opinion. Uh maybe but we we we would expect 50 to 60 patients per day. Most of those being by personal vehicle or walk-in and then two to three to five ambulances per day is what you would anticipate.

Maybe that that that would be on a busy day. Has theos Bufort uh Memorial Hospital been consistent uh in the information provided both in writing and orally uh when this matter has been previously considered um by the design review board for example? As far as I know we have. Yes, ma'am. Have we been consistent in our positioning of of what this facility represents? Exactly. Yes ma'am. So that that has been known from the very first time uh that you made a filing with the county.

Yes, ma'am. Which is why we we sought very early upon acquisition of the property to get the uh town's letter confirming the use. Yes, ma'am. Thank you. Anything else? How do you control people from Excuse me, Madam Chair. I do have a question. How do you control in these circumstances people not spending overnight if they need the attention? I mean, they say there's no beds, but you don't throw somebody out if there's not serviced.

Sure. No, I mean we would obviously if there were no capacity and and that is very rare but uh uh one one thing to note is that we are building our new Bluton hospital uh which will add additional beds to the county. So today if this were built today in the rare occurrence that the the patient could not be transported to say be moral or Hilton Head or any other we would continue to treat them. We wouldn't put them out obviously and we would search for a facility across the state that otherwise could take that patient or possibly in Georgia. Um but again I I do think that would be rare uh in today's world and uh when this facility is built uh that will be good timing because we'll be opening up a new hospital in Bluffton as well which will add beds to the county. Um so I would see say that would be even less uh of a possibility when this facility is constructed. Anyone who would be in a bed weighted status if you will.

Thank you. Yes sir. Thank you very much. Thank you guys so much. Mr. Quebec, do you have any rebuttal? Uh, yes. I'd like to first I'd like to have Mr. come approach and talk about his uh status as the owner. Sure. And how he has suffered harm because of this five minute time limit. Okay. I also like to have one minute at the end to wrap up.

Hello again. Again, my name is David Lamasy. I heard mention of the internet and I'll talk about that in a second. But when we purchased the property, [snorts] we never I mean it was listed as light commercial intensity and in evaluating the purchase of the property and the purposes of our use. We never expected this something like this at all. And I can tell you that uh you're familiar with the property if you are. We have a um very anguished tenant in that we will be having ambulances coming. Disagree or agree with what you've heard today. That will occur. We believe in a much greater degree. In buying the property, we saw what's called the pathway to the ocean. That's not filled with hospitals, urgent care centers. That's filled with services, restaurants, light commercial as was identified. What's currently going on? [clears throat] I have a survey in in my office current. I'd ask you to have the contractor remove his fence from our property. I have not in involved myself with the contractor. He does what he is told. They have cut down trees. We contacted the town. They stopped the cutting of a certain tree. We just had become made aware of an approved plan which we had no knowledge of. Now to go back to the network, we were never identified or

contacted regarding this project. When I heard about this project, I came to the town hall. Brian Eert and forgive me Chris. I asked for Michael Connelly. [clears throat] Brian Eert and Chris met me in the hallway. Hey, how you doing? Good. I heard as I stated to both fellows, this project was approved. We didn't get noticed. So, I don't have the means of putting my arguments in front of the board. They said, "No, it is not approved. It is not. It's going through the ch different channels." They said, "Fine." That is how that occurred. Well, currently, um, they're putting a driveway into our driveway. We had no knowledge of that, nor do they have the right to do that. The contractor said, "Well, yeah, here's a copy of the approved plan, and if you look at it, it's a driveway clearly into our driveway." I don't know why or how that would be approved. They have their demolition tapes around. I'm not an arborist, but a 200year-old oak tree that is leaning over very nicely. How can they possibly cut that down? So my wife came to the town hall. You sent out a nice young lady. Forgive me, I forget her name. She said they're not cutting that tree down. And so that stopped. But currently uh this morning we have five broken irrigated three broken ex uh irrigation lines. our contractors coming in to repair them. And when you look at the irrigation lines, it's because of their construction fence sheared them off. Granted, they're only PVC, but that's by normal design. So, I they've cut our trees down. When we had our landscape

drawings approved, we had to keep certain trees between what we call goodwill property and our property. We had to keep them. They cut them down. I will com I ask you I will compare our drawings to what they have done. They violated our drawings and at the time if you take a tree down you've got to put back a tree and we we lived by that as well. So there are problems that are going on and that I come to you and say I don't believe we were notified and if I had I would have been here standing in front of you with my complaints much before now. I can tell you that it is not the piece that we look for in operating exotic car storage indooroutdoor restaurant brewery. And as Ed stated, it's not the peace and comfort we're looking for. And we truly do believe you're violating the rules by accepting this building and use. So, thank you for your time.

Thank you. One minute, Mr. Kubet. Thank you.

I just want to go back to a couple things that were mentioned. There's there's no debate that this this facility is going to be used for emergency services. I think that was asked of earlier and it's unquestioned that it is. Um, also there was a reference to the main street and I want to get I want to get back to the intent. the intent behind the light commercial district and it's specified and what's its purpose is again it's light commercial uses um with um um with not hospitals you have a you have a medical zone and it's part of the main street area there's a medical zone there that's the location the whole comprehensive plan for our community and the spirit of those who developed this island was not to have these types of facilities ities spread all across the island. And that's why we our comprehensive plan and our zoning ordinance has a hospital zone. That's where these belong. They don't belong in a light commercial district. And again, we believe that the town's interpretation is is not not substantiated. My client has been agreved. He just gave you instances of how he's agreed. Plus the addition that the town is claiming that they have a vested right now. Well, that vested right deprivives my cl my client of a property interest because he had an expectation that property would never change. and they're claiming they have a vested interest in changing it. So, he's agreed in that way, too. So, we appropriately respectfully request that the town uh examine this, that the board examine this, and that they decide that the this warrants reversal based on the judgment standard set forth in the LMO. And we thank you for your time and cooperation on this. Any any other questions for me in that regard?

No, no questions. Thank you. Thank you. rebuttal from uh staff. I'm sorry. I have a neighbor. I love to talk. I'm sorry, sir. This is the republic time for period for the staff.

Good afternoon again, Madam Chair, members of the board. Uh just a couple of items uh to reiterate. Um first of all, Mr. Lmensy, he he identified a number of issues that are happening on the site that are unrelated to the appeal. Uh they aren't related to this use issue. I hear the the comments he's provided. I can work with I'll have staff work with him on those those separate issues, but those are those are not related to the the the matter that we're we're here in front of you today for uh which is regarding the interpretation of of the use. Um, there's also a question about notice and uh whether or not uh the property owner was made aware that these plans were were were being provided to the town for review and comment. Um, and I've I've described that process already as part of previous comments, but I'll just also add that all notice that was provided regarding those applications was provided in accordance with the land management ordinance. So everything that the town is required to do uh they had satisfied that requirement in reviewing those taking those applications in putting those applications for staff review or putting those applications up for design review board. So that's an important note that we town has satisfied all the the responsibilities the requirements for for public notice. Um the the other thing I'll just I'll go back to uh because this was this was raised about staff's review of what an agreved person is. If you look at the statute that section 16-2-103-t2 that is laying out the requirements for the board to look at and whether or not a person is agreeing not for town staff to make that decision. Town staff made the interpretation. Whether or not that person is agrieved is a decision that the board can and should consider. Um and it's let me go back to that definition. Any person agreved by the decision or interpretation who alleges that the official aired in making a decision may file an appeal. A person is agrieved if there is some special or particularized in injury to that person or that

person's property resulting from the decision or written interpretation. That information wasn't provided in the packet. You heard about some of it today. So that but that's a decision point that that staff did not make a decision on whether or not this was an agrieved application. We received an application. we put it in front of the BCA for consideration and that's why we're here today. So, with that, I don't have anything else to add. Um, but if there's other other questions, I can follow up. I I have a question. Um, so the staff has made a determination that this is not a a medical clinic. Correct. It's affiliated with Buford Memorial Hospital. Is that correct?

Correct. Would you consider it to be an annex or a a off-site extension of the hospital in any way?

I don't want to mix things because is it part of the hospital's organizational structure? Yes. But I looked specifically at what is the definition of the use? And in the definition of the use, this is something that's that's that's not a medical clinic. It's something that's more than a medical clinic. It's not a hospital though. Um, and that's where we have this this category of other health service uses. And that's where in our opinion, my opinion, this is where this squarely falls is in that that other health services definition that's provided regardless of whether or not it's part of a hospital network or it's not or just a standalone group of doctors that's providing urgent care. That doesn't matter to me. What matters is is is how are they utilizing the property and that's that's where we we come back to the other health services. And uh another question the in the lawyer for the appellant mentioned the intent of the light commercial zoning zoned area. So the staff's position is that this facility comports with the intent of having a light commercial area.

I do. Yes. I think the definition of other health services helps us helps provide that that that qualification because it's it's not a hospital. It's not a nursing home. Those are higher intensity uses. So in the definition itself, it's it's already pulling back and saying that what putting some restriction on this use. This is also the same district that allows bars and restaurants that can be open uh late at night with music outdoors. Actually, that's what's happening next door. There's a large outdoor area. It allows certain um now there's some conditions that are associated but allows automotive repair allows a whole bunch of other uses that are that are um that are within that bucket as well. So okay so auto repair but not people repair.

Okay. [laughter] Yeah. So if I understand it, Sean, what u part of what your your analysis involves is [snorts] taking a look at the facts as you can determine them and and and as made available to you by the the parties and and submissions that uh that the Bufort County uh Bufort memorial made. Um, and then you have to take a look at the definitions that are in the zoning ordinance. Not a definition that a lay person uh like me might assign, but one that actually fits within the framework of the ordinance itself. Is that correct? That's correct. Yeah. Questions,

Sean. Since this was determined to be a byright use, am I correct? That's correct. It wouldn't be any obligation to notify the adjacent property owners of [snorts] that decision. Or or or if someone came in and said, "I'm going to do I'm going to build something that is allowed under that zoning." Yeah. I mean, it's only when someone seeks a zoning change that they're notified and there's a hearing and so on and so forth. Zoning change, zoning variance, those types of things would yes require additional notice. Did any of those? No, this this complies with situations exist in this particular property.

No, because it was a byite zoning uh it was there weren't any other notices required or many additional approvals that required that were resulting in notice. Okay. So the the the argument [clears throat] is this was not a by right use. I don't want to see that's my interpretation. Okay. That's all I have madam chair. Okay. Any other questions? Thank you very much Sean. Thank you. Any rebuttal? Amen.

Okay. With that, then we'll we'll uh close the part of the hearing that relates to presentations and move to the board's um consideration of the issue. And in doing so, let me just um refer you to the proposed um findings of fact and conclusions of law that are set forth in your packet, which as has been pointed out does not include anything about um whether or not this appellant is an agrieved party. So, I want to make sure that that distinction is made. If you don't like the uh motion that has been um or pardon me the the decision that has been u recommended by staff to the extent that that is omitted then someone would have to ask u to amend what the staff has proposed. And with that um is there a motion to be made at this point? Madam chair, could you review the options that this body has in addressing this issue? I think there are are a couple of ways we can go. If you would go over those for our edification and for those in the audience as well.

Um this of course is also included in our packet. Um and basically um the board can hear and decide appeals where it is alleged that there is an error in an order requirement decision or determination made by an administrative official in the enforcement of the zoning ordinance. Uh the decisions shall be based solely on the record of the appeal supplemented by the arguments uh and information presented at the hearing and the standards in LMO section 16-2-103 uh period t period 5. The board of zoning appeals may affirm the decision uh or interpretation in whole or part or may modify the decision or interpretation in whole or in part. may reverse the decision or interpretation in whole or in part as described in LMO section 16-2-103 period T uh period 4 period D. Uh so uh we will issue a written decision subsequent to the hearing. Um but at this point the board may affirm, may modify or reverse a decision or interpretation and we must also include uh findings of fact and conclusions of law uh in the motion. Uh so um and I I guess we need a motion on the table in order to discuss it. Um I'll entertain a motion. I'll move that we uphold the staff decision based on the findings and facts and conclusions long presented in our packet.

Is there a second? Second. Uh and with that second, I'll open it up for discussion if there is any. I have a procedural question. Certainly. Do members of the public who are here have a right to No, they don't. They do not. No. Any discussion? Then I'll ask for the vote. Mr. Christian, for the motion. And I'm taking over staff's job here now, I think. Didn't mean to do that. Yes, Mr. for the motion. Mr. [clears throat] Johnson, for the motion. Mr. S, for the motion. Mr. Green,

for the motion. And for the motion.

Thank you. didn't mean to take over your job. Uh so uh with that the decision has been affirmed and the um written decision will contain the findings of fact and conclusions of law that are set forth in the staff recommendation. Now the floor is open for public comment on any subject other than the appeal uh by the public. Are there any comments to be made as Miss Fee makes her way back to her chair? All right. We also have um a schedule meeting schedule and I've skipped over that and I didn't mean to. Uh but we have a proposed meeting schedule that was um provided to us as part of our packet. Any objections to that schedule?

What page is it on? Um it's a single page. This one toward the end. The last one. Last page. 71. Thank you, Peter. That's right.

If there aren't any objections, um, I'll entertain a motion. I'll make a motion to approve the meeting dates proposed for 2026. Miss V made the motion. Second. Mr. Christian seconded. All in favor say I. I. Um, I don't think there is any other board business that needs to be discussed at this time. Are there any? Madam Chair, I'd like to bring something up.

Yes, I'm sorry. The uh town has embarked on a LMO rewrite and an LMO rewrite committee is being assembled and I took note of the fact that there was representation from the planning commission and various other boards and organizations within the town. However, I think the most important and the most salient points of an LMO rewrite would come from this body because we hear all the issues that come up that are problems or could be problematic with the with the LMO. Yet, no one from the BCA was identified as being an automatic member of that body. And I would would like this body to, you know, request that we have a the chair or the vice chair have a seat on that committee.

And maybe Sean can can shed some light on why we were along redheaded.

So it wasn't it wasn't about you all personally. It was really about the fact that the BCA renders judgments on the code itself. Yes, you have lot you get to hear a lot of the I guess kind of sometimes the worst of the worst um the tough situations that we have to deal with when we're when we're looking at our code, but you all make you all render decisions on the code and so it it it typically in the process I've been involved with uh the BCA is not involved in the writing of the code itself. Um certainly if you all have collective input you'd like to give us. Hey Sean, as we've looked at cases over the years, here's some things that we we would suggest that you you all look at, I'm happy to take that um and pass that over to the to the task force. But it's it it really is just kind of a little bit of a separation of you all make the you we'll write the code, you all you all make the judgments on it. And

Sean, I spent seven years on the planning commission. I'm probably going on 14 or 15 years on this body. And there isn't any other body that has made more recommendations on LMO changes pushing it up to the planning commission than this body. Understand? And it just seems I know that we enforced the law, but if we know there's a problem with the law, I think who else would be better to bring those items up to the LMO rewrite committee's attention than the chair or the vice chair of this committee. And we also track those too as we're bringing variances. We're bringing other items to you. We're also keeping a laundry list. Okay, we've seen this many variances on sight set back. We've seen this many variances on this topic. And so we're collecting that information as well.

And full disclosure, I've been asked to serve on that a as a as a general manager, not as a member of this body, but I feel very strongly that either the chair or the vice chair should also sit on that. No, again, it wasn't it it it was sure looked like that. Sorry, [laughter] it was not. I I think what you're saying, Sean, is that um uh if you view us as judges that we shouldn't be writing laws. In fact, that was a conversation as I walked up here that the staff attorney were having. Oh, you're the judge, so I bet you not write the law. We wouldn't be [laughter] writing. We would just be recommending, Madam Chair.

No, we we would be helping to write it in a in a sense. And I think um I'm I'm assured by the statement that you made about how you are taking any issues that do arise here before us and making certain that they're part of the process so to speak. Yeah, absolutely. And I will welcome any comments that you have that are outside of some things that just Hey, Sean, I've because I I have a year and a half of history here. I don't think too many people have have much longer than than a year and a half. So if collectively if you have some things that you've seen that we can improve upon whether it's how it's organized even how it's how it's structured definitionally uh if there's some things that we can add I'll I'll take your feedback but there there that was the reason why we didn't include PCA.

So basically you're saying it's a conflict of interest. I hope it goes that it could be separation of powers. Separation of powers is probably a better thinking.

We did raise an issue at the last meeting. I raised it. That was really more of a procedural matter uh than anything else. Um and I think that that's a fair thing to to raise. Okay. Um I I don't see that I mean because that doesn't affect the substance of of the ordinance. I mean, we we had an issue just a couple of meetings ago about an entire subdivision that basically didn't follow the law and and we we upheld, you know, one poor individual's, you know, ruling against him because that's what the LMO said, but now every single one of those homes are in non are in nonconformity.

Exactly. And I I hope that someone's going to bring that up and, you know, allow those people to have a conformity. So if they ever get hit with a hurricane or other catastrophic event that damages more than 50% of their property, they would they would not be able to build back to their original configuration. Was this a side setback? I don't remember. I don't I was at your last meeting. Was this a side setback angle issue? Yes. Okay. Set back. Yep. So we have All right. Michael knows. Talk to Michael. All right. That's only one of many. You have a unique perspective. Train knows as well. You have a [laughter]

You have a unique perspective to add to the to the board as the GM and also a member on BCA. So, anything else? I'll movement, Madam Chair. Well, if it's your pleasure, staff reports, maybe. I I thought we were past that. No, we're backing up to it. No, ma'am. reports. No, ma'am. Nothing. All right. Now, my motion stands. Yes, it does. Um, and a second just to be totally formal about it. You did move to second it. Have a have a great Thanksgiving everybody.

Can you second it? All in favor? I Thank you everybody. Thanksgiving. Good Thanksgiving for all.