Board denies request for variance to protect massive live oak
By Tony Kukulich
For the second time in recent months, a tree is at the center of efforts by Port Royal residents to squash, or at least alter, a development project.
At least for the moment, those efforts appear to have been successful.
Residents packed council chambers Thursday, Sept. 1, as Johnson Development Associates (JDA) asked the Town of Port Royal Design Review Board for a building variance. The requested variance would allow JDA to construct three-story apartment buildings as part of a development project tentatively planned for 2900 Oak View Drive. The town’s building codes allow a maximum of two-and-half stories.
“In order to meet the density required to make the development worthwhile for our purposes, we are requesting a waiver to go to three stories,” said Anders Ike, a JDA spokesperson.
Ike added that if the town did not issue the requested waiver, the development project would probably not be feasible.
Despite the statement from the developer, the board denied the request.
While still in the early design phase, the project as presented would include an estimated 200 apartments and six town houses on a 12-acre site. The apartments would average about 1,000-square feet. All units will be available for rent.
There is, however, one significant sticking point. The selected development site is home to what is believed to be the largest and oldest live oak in Beaufort County, the Ellis Cherry Hill Plantation live oak. Additionally, the 1818 grave of Mary Pope, an enslaved woman, is located at the base of the tree. The Baptist Church of Beaufort, where Pope was a member, maintains the gravesite to this day.
“We understand that the population is very concerned about the tree within the area,” Ike said. “The heritage oak is a key focal point of our site development. The plan there is that we would allow public access to that tree to make it accessible to the Port Royal community. I don’t think it’s currently accessible, and it is quite impressive.”
Master arborist Michael Murphy explained that the Ellis Cherry Hill Plantation live oak was documented in 2009 as part of an effort to locate a tree that might have been alive when the City of Beaufort was founded in 1711. He estimated that it was 350 years old. This particular live oak was selected as the 2013 TreesSC Heritage Tree of the Year.
Rivaling the well known Angel Oak in Charleston County in size, Beaufort County’s giant is 113.75 inches in diameter with a circumference of just more than 30 feet. It stands 55 feet tall and has a 114-foot spread. Despite its great size, it became apparent to Murphy that part of the tree was missing.
“The tree is magnificent,” Murphy said. “If you’ve ever seen it, you know it’s big. When you do go to look at it, you can see that one side has been damaged, seriously damaged. What we found out from people that lived around there was that half this tree blew apart in Hurricane Gracie in 1959.”
Murphy further noted that the Angel Oak stands on 35.7 acres of protected land. If the JDA plan moves forward in its current form, the Ellis Cherry Hill Plantation live oak would have a 0.107-acre plot preserved for its support.
“It’s totally insufficient, especially since there would be so much collateral damage,” Murphy told The Island News. “That whole property would be regraded, and dug out and have top soil removed. That 12-acre site was going to be decimated for the benefit of the project, and the tree would be sitting on this tiny, postage stamp sized footprint.”
More than a dozen in attendance, many from the nearby Pinckney Retreat neighborhood, spoke during the public comment portion of the meeting. In addition to concerns over the preservation of the Ellis Cherry Hill Plantation live oak, residents were worried about a variety of development impacts including: traffic, storm-water drainage, light pollution, the fate of more than 30 other heritage trees on the site and the possible presence of other unmarked graves in the area.
The board had a brief discussion following public comments and subsequently voted unanimously to deny JDA’s request for a waiver on the two-and-half story limit.
At this point, the future of the JDA project is uncertain. JDA did not respond to a request for comment.
Tony Kukulich is a recent transplant to the Lowcountry. A native of Wilmington, Del., he comes to The Island News from the San Francisco Bay Area where he spent seven years as a reporter and photographer for several publications. He can be reached at tony.theislandnews@gmail.com.
