Hilton Head leaders reject controversial tree grinding lease agreement
After a judge ordered the Hilton Head Island Town Council to add a controversial lease agreement with a tree service company to Tuesday's meeting agenda, council voted unanimously to deny that agreement.
Council member Kim Likins moved that the town reject the proposed ordinance and direct the town attorney and town manager to renegotiate the terms of the settlement agreement to either move ArborNature off the island or add terms to better address noise, environmental and operational concerns.
That move will prolong what already has been a lengthy process.
"We are disappointed that the Town of Hilton Head has chosen to renege on a settlement agreement that both parties have put a lot of time and effort into implementing over the last year," Tom Taylor, an attorney for ArborNature, said after Tuesday's meeting.
Taylor said he has notified town attorneys that ArborNature will seek to amend the complaint against the town to add a new cause of action for breach of contract, because, Taylor said, a settlement agreement is recognized as a contract in South Carolina.
Taylor said his client will seek damages and ask that the settlement agreement be carried out.
In addition, ArborNature is seeking to amend a separate case related to the Board of Zoning Appeals, which claimed ArborNature was in violation of town zoning.
Taylor said the town attorney was served with a notice that ArborNature would seek to amend these cases "within 20 minutes" of Town Council's vote.
He said if the town does not agree to let the company amend the cases, he will file a motion with the court asking for it to be amended.
More than half a dozen residents spoke at Tuesday's meeting in support of Town Council's decision to deny the lease agreement.
The AborNature settlement — approved a year ago — has been a point of contention over the past few months after Town Council voted to postpone the vote on executing a lease agreement at its April 17 meeting.
At that meeting, some residents raised concerns that the town was moving a problem from one area of the island to another.
The settlement agreement would move ArborNature's tree grinding operation from Leg O' Mutton Road to town-owned property on Summit Drive, which requires executing a lease agreement.
Complaints about ArborNature first began in May 2015, when town staff heard from residents near the Leg O'Mutton Road site, according to Teri Lewis, the town's Land Management Ordinance official.
In May 2016, Lewis wrote to ArborNature saying the company was out of compliance with the LMO.
ArborNature appealed that decision, but the town's Board of Zoning Appeals upheld Lewis' decision.
ArborNature then appealed to circuit court.
A settlement agreement between the town and the company was reached in June 2017. It said the town would lease a 4-acre site on Summit Drive to ArborNature for one year for $1. ArborNature also has the option to purchase the property for $300,000.
This story was originally published June 20, 2018 at 9:48 AM with the headline "Hilton Head leaders reject controversial tree grinding lease agreement."