By Delayna Earley
The Island News
Pine Island developers received a blow on Monday night when the Beaufort County Planning Commission unanimously decided to recommend denial of their request to have the property removed from the Cultural Protection Overlay (CPO) boundary.
Developers of the controversial proposed gated community and golf course on St. Helena Island submitted an application to have their 437-acre property removed from the land covered by the CPO, which is a decades-old ordinance that does not allow for gated communities or golf courses to be built on the island in hopes of preserving the Gullah Geechee culture that has deep roots in the community.
Recently, Pine Island developer Elvio Tropeano published a new downzoning plan that he and those in support of the development say is the best-case scenario for responsible development on the island while respecting the community and the existing culture.
During Monday’s Planning Commission meeting, concerned citizens on both sides of the issue filled the seats to have their voices heard during the 4.5-hour long meeting that was mostly public comment regarding Pine Island.
There were many citizens who commented on both sides, but for most, those who agreed with protecting the CPO wanted to do so to avoid a “domino effect” of development on St. Helena Island if they allow one development to be excused from the CPO that would jeopardize the existing Gullah Geechee culture and their history as well as have a huge environmental impact on the island.
Those who were there to support Pine Island’s proposed downzoning plan, mostly did so because this plan, to them, was the lesser of two evils and a golf course with 49 homes is much better than what the developers are able to build under their current zoning, which in their opinion will be more harmful environmentally and culturally to the island than the proposed plan.
“The way the CPO is written, for me, it’s twofold,” said Dennis Ross on the Planning Commission. “One is to protect a history that’s going away and once it goes away, it’s not there anymore. You can read about it in books, you can talk about it, but it’s not there anymore … And it’s to protect a heritage that is just being eaten up every day. I, for one, I can’t, in my heart of hearts, I cannot support this.”
Planning Commission chair Ed Pappas said that he was basing his decision not on his opinion, but on the standards by which the Planning Commission has been tasked with making decisions.
“They’re outlined in the compressive plan, and they make up nine different review standards, and by my count, most of those standards aren’t met in this application as outlined by staff,” Pappas said.
This setback is the latest in a long line of disappointments for the Pine Island development effort, which has been underway since 2022.
The plan submitted by Tropeano on April 7, to amend the zoning map, ultimately removing Pine Island from the CPO, additionally proposed providing land and $2.5 million for a community center on the island as well as promises to preserve open space on the island and in the proposed golf course and gated community.
Jobs with salaries averaging $80,000 were also one of the items that the Pine Island developer said the 18-hole golf course and gated community would provide, although when questioned by commissioners about the nature and permanency of these high paying jobs, representation for Pine Island did not have specific answers.
If Beaufort County denies Tropeano’s request regarding the CPO, he has stated that the alternative, which is currently allowed under the zoning, would be to move forward with a denser development of 149 residential units and 90 docks that has been referred to a “full density plan”.
With this plan, there are no promises made regarding a community center or open space preservation.
The committee members will make their final recommendation to County Council during the planned Natural Resources Committee meeting on Monday, June 2 at 4 p.m., and then Council will make their final vote.
Delayna Earley, who joined The Island News in 2022, formerly worked as a photojournalist for The Island Packet/The Beaufort Gazette, as well as newspapers in Indiana and Virginia. She can be reached at delayna.theislandnews@gmail.com.
