Milton office complex meeting postponed

Milton Town Council has postponed a public hearing on a proposed rezoning of a Mulberry Street parcel that would be used for a medical office complex.

The hearing had been scheduled for Wednesday, July 8, but was postponed at the request of applicant Phoenix RCHS Holdings, Mayor Ted Kanakos said. He said one of the principles in Phoenix RCHS Holdings is ill and would not be able to attend. Town Manager Kristy Rogers said she was notified the member of Phoenix needed a three-to-four week recovery time.

Kanakos said the earliest the meeting could be rescheduled is in August, but that the hearing could be put off until September. 

“They’re pretty intent on building this,” he said. “What it is, it is. Everything is still planned.” 

Phoenix RHCS Holdings is seeking to rezone a nearly 8-acre parcel on Mulberry Street from R-1 residential to C-1 commercial, for the purposes of building two 40,000 square foot medical office buildings. One of the buildings would be used by Beebe Healthcare; while it is not known yet who would occupy the second building, representatives from Phoenix RCHS Holdings have said that the building would be used for medical offices. 

The proposal, first presented to Milton’s Planning and Zoning Commission in January, has been a source of controversy in town, with homeowners along the Mulberry Street corridor raising concerns about traffic and the effect on property values. In their public presentations, representatives from Phoenix RCHS Holdings have said the project will bring much needed services and jobs to the town. The area on and around Mulberry Street is now full of signs either in support or opposed to the rezoning.

In March, planning and zoning unanimously agreed to recommend not rezoning the parcel, sending the matter to the Town Council for a hearing and deciding vote. While the commission recommended not rezoning, council could overrule that decision with a majority vote.