By Lolita Huckaby
BEAUFORT
Hooray for the City of Beaufort Board of Zoning Appeals!!
As we celebrate the 250th anniversary of this country and our right to “life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness,” it seems increasingly rare for citizens to have an opportunity to applaud decisions being made by governmental regulatory boards.
Sure, the Beaufort County Council’s ongoing battle with developers of Pine Island for the past three years has drawn concerned citizens to multiple meetings, waving banners and voicing their concerns about growth in this rural part of the county. And sure, those citizens have left council chambers, applauding and cheering, as the county officials in, vote after vote, rejected the plans.
But we have to remember, despite those repeated rejections, the prospect of a gated, golf-course community on Pine Island still flickers in court filings and behind closed doors. The landowners, aka the developers, are definitely pursuing their rights.
And the county elected officials, who have been long on criticism lately while short on praise, drew applause earlier this month when they passed revisions to the 2018 plastic bag ban by restricting all plastic bags. But even that vote was divided, with four members claiming it was “government over-reach,” a phrase we hear bandied about increasingly as campaign fodder.
But one small — some might say significant — example could be a decision by the board of appeals last week which sided with the city’s Community Development staff who said no to a developer who wanted to remove three landmark oak trees on a marsh front property.
The developer argued that the lot wasn’t large enough to build a single-family home, with garage, without removing three “landmark” oak trees protected by the city.
The issue was important enough for a dozen of the neighbors in the Overlook at Battery Creek to show up for the board meeting, urging the board to uphold city standards.
With very little deliberation, the zoning board voted 3-1 in agreement with the staff and there was general applause as the meeting adjourned.
The neighborhood is one of many popping up around Beaufort and Port Royal in the past decade, providing housing for those moving to the Lowcountry for its charm and environmental beauty. Two decades ago, this area was heavily wooded acreage with a few scattered mobile homes on the marshes of Battery Creek.
While both the city of Beaufort and Port Royal have tightened their regulations protecting trees, huge swarths of land are still being cleared to make way for new residences, the latest trend being apartment complexes.
Look no further than the former forest that buffered the Preserve apartments on Ribaut Road. Just last month, the area was clear-cut for Mariners Walk, a 123-unit apartment complex in front of the Preserve on Ribaut Road less than a mile north of town hall.
Because the project plans for Mariners Walk and other apartment complexes submitted for the administrative permitting process prior to the updating of the town’s new, more restrictive tree protections, those acres were allowed to be stripped.
As we reflect on the upcoming anniversary of this country, it’s an interesting flight of fancy to consider what this corner of the Lowcountry was like 250 years. It for damn sure had more trees.
County Green Space Program still working to slow development
BEAUFORT — Keeping with the topic of saving trees, Beaufort County Council did its share to do the same two weeks ago when they approved a purchase arrangement with the Nature Conservancy to save 5,000 acres of woodlands and swamps adjacent to Palmetto Bluff.
After considerable discussion and a delay of two weeks to give Palmetto Bluff residents to learn more about the proposal which had been in the work for more than a year, the council voted to allocate $42 million of the county’s Green Space program funds for the acquisition.
The agreement allows the Nature Conservancy to buy the property and turn it over to the State Forestry Commission which would manage the land along the New River as a state forest, accessible to the public.
The acquisition was the latest purchase through the county’s Green Space program which is funded by a penny sales tax supported by voters in 2022.
The special tax generated a cap of $100 million between May 2023 and May 2025. Essentials such as food items, medical supplies and gasoline were exempt.
Lolita Huckaby Watson is a community volunteer and newspaper columnist. In her former role as a reporter with The Beaufort Gazette, The Savannah Morning News, Bluffton Today and Beaufort Today, she prided herself in trying to stay neutral and unbiased. As a columnist, these are her opinions. The Rowland, N.C. native’s goal is to be factual but opinionated, based on her own observations. Feel free to contact her at bftbay@gmail.com.
