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Board approves Eastpoint ‘Serenity Seaside’ commercial site plan after procedural land-use fix; 3–2 vote
Summary
The Franklin County commission approved a commercial site plan for the 100-room Serenity Seaside PUD in Eastpoint and adopted a procedural future-land-use fix to correct a missing state transmittal; approval is contingent on final plat recordation and a 30-day effective period following state filing.
The Franklin County Board of County Commissioners voted to approve the commercial site plan for the Serenity Seaside planned unit development in Eastpoint and to record a previously missing future land use amendment, allowing the project to proceed toward permitting.
County Planner Bree Robinson told the board staff had not found documentation the 2019 future land use map amendment was transmitted to state agencies. She recommended a procedural re-adoption to cure the omission so the county’s records and the project’s entitlements match. The commission approved the ordinance to correct and transmit the earlier action with a 4–1 vote.
The project’s commercial portion would include a 100-room resort, meeting space, a chapel and recreation amenities including pickleball and tennis courts and a beach club. The developer’s attorney described the step before the commission as paperwork to ‘‘correct a snafu’’ so building permits can proceed under the PUD’s previous approvals. "This is just a procedural step to correct a snafu, an error, an oopsie, whatever you want to call it," said Dede Rowan, attorney for the applicant.
Commissioners expressed concern about process and statutory changes since the original approvals. County counsel and staff explained that recent state statute changes and a state designation for Franklin County expanded the small-scale map amendment threshold (allowing one-step processing for parcels up to 100 acres), which is why the commission could remedy the prior missing transmission through a single hearing.
On the commercial site plan itself, staff recommended approval with two explicit contingencies: the county must receive and record the final plat for the project parcels, and the FLUM amendment must become effective after the statutorily required 30-day period following transmittal to state agencies. The commission approved the commercial site plan on a 3–2 vote; two commissioners opposed citing unresolved concerns about timing, procedural clarity and community input.
What happens next: the developer must record the final plat and the county must transmit the adopted FLUM ordinance to the state. The land-use change will become effective only after the 30-day period required by statute, and staff said no building permits for the commercial parcels may be issued until both contingencies are satisfied.
Why it matters: the vote restores an entitlement pathway for a large coastal development that has been debated since 2019 and underscores how procedural gaps in transmittal and changing state rules can hold up projects and prompt fresh review by local officials.
