Washington’s Planning Board meets at 7 p.m. today in a special session to discuss a proposed ordinance amendment regarding the conversion of single-family residences to multi-family residences in the B1-H zoning district.

The City Council asked the board to study the issue after Don Stroud, a Washington resident and attorney, challenged the city’s issuance of a building permit that would result in the house at 121 E. Second St. being converted into about 11 apartments.

Stroud’s challenge came after the council, during an October 2015 meeting, chose not to impose a moratorium on converting single-family dwellings in the B1H district into multifamily dwellings. About eight people in the audience supported Stroud, who contends the city’s existing zoning ordinances prohibit such conversions in that district. The council sent the matter to the Planning Board for review and a recommendation. Meanwhile, the owner of the house at 121 E. Second St., continues to convert the structure.

Specifically, Stroud wanted the Board of Adjustment to overrule the issuance of the building permit, direct the city to deny the permit and direct the city, if he was successful with his petition, to issue a stop-work order.

About a month ago, a tie vote among the city’s Board of Adjustment members and a failed motion meant the building permit issued for improvements to the house in the city’s historic district remains in effect.

During its lengthy meeting March 31 (and into early morning April 1), the board voted 2-2 on Charlie Manning’s motion to revoke the permit. Manning and Paula Nelson voted for the motion. Chairman Steve Fuchs and Tim Cashion voted against it. Cashion’s motion to uphold issuance of the permit died for lack of a second. Board members Derik Davis and Ronald Lundy did not attend the meeting. There is a vacancy on the seven-member board.

Issuance of the building permit could be challenged in Beaufort County Superior Court.

The board, which acts as a quasi-judicial entity, heard presentations by Stroud and City Attorney Franz Holscher. Jim Hoft, the attorney for the board, provided advice to the board. The board heard testimony from numerous witnesses and others. The attorneys discussed taking the case to Superior Court Judge Wayland Sermons Jr. for a ruling, according to Rodman. Hoft contacted Sermons, according to Stroud.

Subsequently, Hoft is preparing an order and findings of fact for the board to review at its May meeting, according to John Rodman, the city’s director of community and cultural resources. Those documents, if approved by the board, could lay the foundation for an appeal to Superior Court, according to Rodman.

The house in question is at 121 E. Second St. It was sold to California-based McLean Investment Co. LLC on Aug. 28 for $171,000, according to Beaufort County deed records and other real-estate transaction records.

The city’s zoning regulations note that the B1H district is “primarily designed to provide convenient shopping and service facilities by promoting compact development of commercial, office, and service uses while preserving the historic character of the district.”

The Planning Board meets in the Council Chambers in the Municipal Building, 102 E. Second St.