SEBASTIAN — A 16-unit motel project on Capt. Hiram’s property, on hold for a year, has finally been cleared for take-off. The Sebastian City Council on Dec. 10 denied a last ditch appeal by local businessman Damien Gilliams to reverse the Planning and Zoning Board decision to approve the project.
Before the quasi-judicial hearing got under way, Gilliams had asked that it be postponed because neither his expert witness nor Council member Andrea Coy were present. Gilliams argued, to no avail, that both his witness, whom he described as a professional engineer, and the full, 5-member board, were critical to his case.
But the Council voted 3-1 to proceed without further delay. Council member Jerome Adams said Gilliams’ request should be granted.
“I think we could afford him the courtesy” so the issue couldn’t become a problem “at a later date.”
Gilliams ultimately presented an array of assertions and accusations, shuffling through a pile of files and folders and reading excerpts from several public documents.
Capt. Hiram’s owner Tom Collins, who had maintained a low profile since the project’s inception, came forward to state firmly, “I’ve worked on this for couple of years. I’ve met with Damien and asked about his (problems with the project) and couldn’t get a straight answer.”
Collins pointed out that he has complied with all the City’s requirements and received unanimous project approval from the P & Z and the Board of Adjustment.
“My neighbors on both sides have approved. I’ve spent a lot of time and money, and now he comes in at the last second. It is a total delaying tactic and an abuse of the system.”
Gilliams had originally brought the project to a halt in December 2013 through an appeal in Circuit Court, which, according to City Code, automatically stopped all progress until the appeal was acted on by the Court.
Following an appellate review, the appeal was dismissed by the Circuit Court in August and the site plan was brought forward and approved by the P & Z.
But Gilliams filed an appeal with the City and the project, as per City Code, was stopped again.
At that point, City Attorney Robert Ginsburg proposed a code amendment that would allow a project to move ahead during the appeal process “at the applicant’s own risk,” explaining that, especially when dealing with real estate development, timing can be critical and an applicant could run into problems with financing and other aspects of the project if delayed for a significant period of time.
Prompted by the Capt. Hiram’s issue, the code amendment was approved during the City Council.
Before Gilliams began his presentation, Ginsburg had carefully explained that the quasi-judicial hearing was not the usual “mini-trial,” in which the Council could not hear new evidence, but was a more limited “appellate argument based only on whether the P & Z decision should be upheld.”
Therefore, no evidence could be considered that had not already gone before the P&Z.
Gilliams ignored Ginsburg’s repeated reminders that “that is not admissible. The P&Z didn’t discuss that,” and continued to present new evidence.
In rebuttal, following Gilliams’ presentation, Collins again came forward. “This appeal is . . . insulting to the City and its procedures. He’s completely off-base. . .this is a fiasco.”
Following up on Gilliams’ repeated assertions that Capt, Hiram’s had not properly provided unity of title and as-built survey documents, Mayor Richard Gillmor asked staff whether the aforementioned documents were, in fact, properly in place.
City Planner Jan King responded that they were and noted that the as-built survey is done after, not before, the project is completed.
The motion to deny the appeal passed 4-0.
“Obviously I’m not getting things done here,” Gilliams declared. “I guess I’ll have to take it to the next level.”
For his part, Collins said plans are to get the project under way in February 2015 and “have it delivered” by the season in 2016.