An individual who gathered 400 signatures on a petition in opposition to a proposed assisted living home in the town of Livingston is disappointed in the decision the Madison County Board of Supervisors made.
“We fully expected the board to vote but instead they kicked it back to the Mannsdale-Livingston Heritage Preservation District (MLHPD) for further review,” said Greta-Barbour Mills of the board’s action during a public hearing about the matter on Jan. 18.
The board asked the MLHPD to revisit plans for the proposed facility within two weeks of its meeting.
Chad Phillips applied on April 1, 2023, for a conditional use for a public/quasi-public facility with 15 beds named The Oaks Assisted Living Facility that he would like to build and operate at 3265 Highway 22. The property is zoned C-1 Commercial District with a Planned United Development (PUD) overlay. An assisted living facility is allowed under C-1.
The Madison County Planning and Zoning Commission approved the application on Aug. 10, 2023, on the condition that the MLHPD approve it.
The MLHPD reviewed the application on Aug. 14, 2023 and denied it because there was lack of information about landscaping and the site elevations for the building were inappropriate.
Gerald Steen, president of the supervisors, said the MLHPD did not give the proposal the due diligence it should have.
He asked why the MLHPD did not review the landscaping plans and site elevation details and any additional issues it had concerns with after more information was re-submitted
“I haven’t heard you say it didn’t fit the character,” Steen said, which is what several individuals who spoke in opposition indicated.
Rita McGuffie, chair of MLHPD, said during the final meeting that MLHPD had with Phillips he demanded in the middle of the review that a vote be taken right then.
“We were not given a conditional use and at the time we voted, the appropriateness of the use we were not able to address because we did not have anything substantial on that,” she said. “We had reviewed it four different times and he (Phillips) said, ‘Just tell us right now, vote.’
“We voted and did our duty and closed the meeting. Procedurally, it’s very difficult to take something back up under Robert’s Rules (of Order) …Things we had asked for repeatedly had not been addressed.”
Steen said the MLHPD chose to pass the buck. “You didn’t want to take it back up,” he said.
The meeting drew a standing-room only crowd of home, land and business owners from the area.
Mills, whose family owns property near Livingston, told the supervisors she had gathered 400 signatures from residents and subdivision residents along Highway 463 and Highway 22, including Reunion, Annandale, Noah’s Mill, Cedar Hill Road, Charlton, Chestnut Hill, Stone Bridge and Anderson Station, just to name a few, who do not want a personal care facility in the historic district of Madison County.
“It is interesting to note that, other than the proponent of the facility and counsel, not one person stood up to speak in favor of it,” she said.
Mills told the supervisors she opposes the facility because “we want to keep the integrity of the area.”
Brian Isonhood, owner of The Briar Patch bar in Livingston, also spoke against the facility during the meeting. “We don’t feel like this is a good fit for Livingston,” he said.
Bridget Engle, owner of the Farmers Table Cooking School, also voiced concerns about the facility during the meeting and how it would fit in with the concerts and other events that are offered at Livingston and the noise they make. She said 10 years ago condos were not permitted above one of the businesses at Livingston and she wondered how an assisted living facility is now permissible.
Steven H. Smith, the attorney representing Phillips, said his client revised the plans and addressed the landscaping and other issues but MLHPD stood by its decision on Aug. 14, 2023, to deny the application.
Phillips told the supervisors that national statistics show that assisting living facilities receive about 85 percent of their residents from within a 15-mile radius of the location of the facility.
He said he wants the facility to be an asset to the area, to offer an exceptional level of care and not be something that would de-value property around it.
Phillips asked, “Since when did taking care of our seniors become so controversial?”
The facility will have to be licensed by the Mississippi State Department of Health and submit a plan to meet all of its requirements.
Both the MLHPD and the Madison County Planning and Zoning Commission are advisory boards that make recommendations to the supervisors. The supervisors may vote to adopt the boards’ recommendations or may reject them.
