Zoning Map Amendment won’t be heard September 22 County Council meeting
By Delayna Earley
The Island News
The Beaufort County National Resources Committee has deferred a vote on an ordinance to amend the Pine Island Zoning Map until the Beaufort County Council meets later in September.
The decision was made by the County Council Chairwoman Alice Howard and York Glover, the Chair of the Natural Resources Committee, after the applicant, Elvio Tropeano, requested that the Zoning Map Amendment not be looked at before County Council has a chance to look at and discuss the related development agreement that he has put forward as well in hopes of having Pine Island removed from the Cultural Protection Overlay (CPO) to pave the way to build a golf course.
“By considering both items (the development agreement and the zoning map amendment) at the same time, the Council will have the clearest picture of the project with as much information as possible to make a well-informed decision,” Hannah Nichols, a spokesperson for Beaufort County said.
Unsure if this was the best decision, Glover said that if they had voted on the amendment to the zoning map during the committee meeting and it failed, that would have ended talks regarding the development agreement as well.
The Cultural Protection Overlay is an agreement that has been in place since 1999 that essentially protects St. Helena Island from being overdeveloped with gated communities and golf courses and protects the Gullah/Geechee culture.
Glover said that this practice of deferring a note is not normal, but Councilman David Bartholomew said that he expects this is going to become the typical way to do things going forward.
Regardless of the decision to defer the Zoning Map Amendment until the next County Council meeting, Council still decided to have public comment during the Natural Resources Committee meeting to allow all those opposed to removing the Pine Island from the CPO the opportunity to speak.
Hosting 15 minutes of public comment at the beginning of the meeting and more than 45 minutes toward the end, the chambers were standing room only, filled with people on both sides of the issue.
“I think they should have moved the meeting venue to a location that could more appropriately accommodate the known public interest in this issue,” said Jessie White, director of the South Coast Office of the Coastal Conservation League.
This is the second time that a discussion and vote in the Natural Resources Committee has been deferred at the request of the applicant.
A vote was deferred on June 2, 2025, following the 7-to-1 vote by the Beaufort County Planning Commission to deny recommending a zoning map change.
Many of the people who stood up to speak before the committee on Monday did so to express to council how frustrated they are that after three years of fighting, there is still a chance that a Pine Island golf course development will be allowed progress to instead of upholding the CPO.
“How long does it take for you to see someone that is crooked unless you are looking at it with crooked eyes?” said Natasha Robinson of St. Helena Island.
There were those who stood up in defense of the downsizing plan put out by Pine Island, arguing that a golf course is better than more than 100 new homes.
State Senator Chip Campsen was also in attendance at Wednesday’s meeting and read a letter he wrote to board Chairman Glover regarding his feelings about Pine Island.
“St. Helena Island is unquestionably South Carolina’s most culturally rich and consequently it’s most culturally vulnerable Sea Island,” Senator Campsen said. “It is at the heart of the South Carolina’s Gullah Geechee culture that is suffering gentrification everywhere else along the coast.”
Campsen said that the proposed zoning amendment application and development agreement “is a threat to this rich and irreplaceable cultural heritage.
Both the development agreement and the ordinance will be heard by the full County Council on Sept. 22 for their first hearing and discussion.
If the two items move forward from the first hearing, they will appear before council for a second hearing at the end of October.
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.
