The Council on Coastal Futures wants a meeting with Gov. Mark Sanford after some members complained Friday that their work is being undermined.

"I think it's all communications," said Wes Jones, the chairman of the council appointed by the Department of Health and Environmental Control board in the waning days of Gov. Jim Hodges' administration.

Jones said a meeting would be "just to make sure everybody understands what everybody else is doing and the efforts being made to try to provide some clarity on some of these coastal zone issues."

The panel, composed of environmentalists, businesspeople, scientists, lawmakers and public officials, is reviewing regulations after 25 years of coastal management in the state. It met in North Charleston on Friday.

"The governor would be happy to sit down and hear their thoughts on these regulations," said Will Folks, a spokesman for Sanford. "He's open to exploring any idea that's going to balance economic development interests with the need to maintain quality of life."

Some council members complained about a separate meeting set for later this month at which attorneys, DHEC officials, environmentalists and others will discuss a bill introduced recently in the Senate.

If approved, permits issued by DHEC's Office of Ocean and Coastal Resource Management no longer would be stayed automatically when someone files notice of appeal. The Council on Coastal Futures has wrestled with the issue but has not made a final recommendation.

"If we're going to have these splinter groups go off and do things, why do we need to meet here every month?" asked Bluffton Mayor Hank Johnston.

The planned meeting is "to get together a group of parties who are interested in that issue to hammer out the details of what might be consensus," said Elizabeth Hagood, the chairwoman of the DHEC board. She is not a member of the coastal futures panel but attended Friday's meeting.

She helped lead a Quality of Life Task Force for Sanford after last fall's election.

"We had been in conversation with the governor's office -- members of the task force -- about putting together legislation that did have consensus," she said. "We had success before just sitting around a table working out the issues, and this was a continuation of that."

State Rep. Dwight Loftus, R-Greenville, who is on the coastal futures panel, criticized the separate meeting. "Do you understand that when the chairman of DHEC and the board chairman of DHEC are on this committee it basically undermines our work?" he said.

"It certainly had no intent of undermining anything (the panel) is doing," said Hagood, who added that the information would be presented to the council later.

Sen. John Kuhn, R-Charleston, another council member, said there is little chance legislators will approve the bill this year. The council is expected to consider the permit issue next month.