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The Puna Community Medical Center is one step closer to bringing emergency treatment to the Big Island’s southeast side.

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The seven-member state Board of Land and Natural Resources on Friday voted unanimously to pass an “approval in concept” for the clinic’s proposal to lease public land for an emergency facility in Pahoa.

The move does not grant the lease. The board won’t consider final approval of the agreement until the clinic completes an environmental assessment and finding of no significant impact.

But it gave Clinical Programs Director Dan Domizio plenty to be excited about.

“It’s wonderful … we’ll keep doing what we have to do and get it going,” he said.

The clinic is seeking to lease five acres on Highway 130 near the police and fire station from the agency for $480 a year.

The emergency facillity would serve Puna, considered to be fastest growing area in the state.

The facility hasn’t been designed yet but Domizio estimated its cost at about $4 million.

The clinic has applied for an $80,000 HMSA Foundation planning grant, and will seek other grant sources, he said.

A date has not been set for the board to consider approving the lease.

Domizio estimated that the environmental assessment and finding of no significant impact could take anywhere from six months to a year.