By Taylor Boyd
The Stuart Town Council tabled a zoning ordinance amendment that would rezone the approximate 13-acre Stuart Community Hospital property into a Medical Hospital Center District following a public hearing at its Wednesday, Nov. 19 meeting.
Town Manager Bryce Simmons said letters were sent to Stuart Property Acquisition Company, LLC, outlining the text changes to the town’s zoning ordinance with the intent to hold the public hearing after an Oct. 21 meeting of the town’s Planning Commission.
“I was contacted this past Friday, on 11/14, by representatives of the hospital, or the new owners of the hospital. They did have some concerns about the rezoning, specifically being this close to the issuance of their license and the permit,” he said.
Based on these concerns, Simmons recommended the council table the amendment to allow for additional legal review.
“I do think that the biggest concern is that they want to open and they want to have a clean opening and doing this text change this close to their opening date may raise some red flags with the state,” he said.
Councilmember Erica Wade asked if hospital owner Braden Health agreed to wait for the rezoning.
Simmons said yes, and added time is set in January to allow for legal review to ensure all parties feel positive about the potential zoning changes.
Mayor Terry Dalton said Braden Health didn’t want anything to delay reopening.
“Without going into too much detail, they said basically the hospital’s never closed according to the state. There’s a lot of fine wordings so forth and so on that’s not worth delaying opening the hospital because they have to be open by December 31 or else,” he said.
As being rezoned isn’t necessary for the hospital to reopen, Dalton added it can be done after the hospital is officially reopened.
Frank Pettway, of the Stuart Planning Commission, agreed.
Noting the town isn’t trying to delay the facility’s reopening, Simmons said pushing the rezoning through now could be seen as a hindrance.
Vice Mayor Dave Hoback said the rezoning is more of an administrative “nicety” than an official necessity with substantial change in it.
“As long as it can wait till January,” Wade said.
Town Attorney Chris Corbett said it can wait.
In other matters, council:
*Discussed the town potentially assuming ownership of part of Landmark Drive. At the latest planning commission meeting, Simmons said it was recommended an evaluation, or an assessment of the road itself be done to determine the amount of maintenance needed.
A condition on securing a permanent easement for extension of the Mayo River Rail Trail was also recommended.
Simmons has directed a town employee to conduct a road assessment, and explained “it has been maintained in the past. However, it doesn’t look like it has been paved, it’s just been sealed at the cracks,” he said.
Simmons said one part of the road appears to be breaking up near the entrance of New Life Community Church, and lines on the road are faded.
“There’s some maintenance that obviously needs to be done. I don’t feel comfortable taking on that property without that maintenance being a condition because as soon as we take it over, someone’s going to start pointing the finger like ‘why aren’t you fixing this,’” Simmons said.
In other matters, the council:
*Approved a $4,000 contribution to the Patrick County Food Bank after hearing a presentation about the non-profit from Executive Director Rhonda Pruitt and member Ellen Fulcher.
*Approved a $1,500 contribution to the Caring Hearts Free Clinic.
*Approved giving town employees a $200 Christmas bonus.
*Approved giving town employees Friday, November 28, the day after Thanksgiving, off from work.
*Formalized a resolution to facilitate bond financing to help fund the backwash improvement project for which the town received $1.6 million in grant funds. This will be used to help fund the contraction portion of the project, and the bond will be up to $629,500.
*Approved using $500 to sponsor the 2025 Patrick Christmas Parade and tree lighting.
*Discussed the town’s employment situation and future needs.
*Heard updates on the unsafe structures on Dobyns Road, the Downtown Revitalization Project, the town’s sidewalk improvement projects and employee handbook updating process.
*Heard the town manager’s report.
*Approved the Oct. 15 meeting minutes.
*Paid the bills.
