By Tony Kukulich
The Island News
BEAUFORT — The forces behind the effort to develop a golf resort on the 502-acre property known as Pine Island were back in front of Beaufort County officials on Monday, Nov. 2, pleading their case for zoning change that would ostensibly clear the way for the envisioned resort.
The county’s Natural Resources Committee took up the matter after the Planning Commission first heard the rezoning request on Oct. 5. During that meeting, the commission voted 7-0 to deny the request, a move that aligned with the recommendation from county staff after their analysis of the developer’s rezoning application.
At issue is a Sept. 2, 2026 application to rezone the St. Helena Island property, which currently sits within the St. Helena Cultural Protection Overlay District. The overlay is a community-driven zoning amendment, which placed prohibitions on how properties could be developed above and beyond the underlying zoning. The cultural protection overlay (CPO) prohibits resorts, gated communities and golf courses on all properties within its boundaries. With a few exceptions, it applies to the entire 64-square-mile island.
“This has been a county land use policy since 1999. It came out of a community process and was adopted when the county adopted its zoning and development standards ordinance,” explained Robert Merchant, director of the Planning and Zoning Department, during the Nov. 2 meeting.
Removing a property from the overlay zone requires an application for a zoning map amendment. The application is reviewed by county staff and sent to the Planning Commission with a recommendation to approve or deny the application. The commission issues its own recommendation, which goes to the Natural Resources Committee. The committee sends its recommendation to County Council. The council can either adopt the requested change by approving an ordinance after three readings and a public hearing. Or, they can deny the request with a single vote.
The Sept. 2 application is the third time the owners of the property, a pair of limited-liability corporations, have made a pitch to remove the land from the overlay. In 2023, the County Council took the recommendations of the Planning Commission and the Natural Resources Committee and voted to deny the application. A second attempt was made in 2025, but was withdrawn by representatives of the property owners minutes before County Council was set to vote on the matter.
The staff report, authored by Merchant, again recommended that the application for rezoning be denied, saying it seeks to defeat the goals and objectives of the county’s comprehensive plan.
“The location and extents of the boundaries were purposefully delineated to support and implement the Comprehensive Plan and the purpose statement of the CPO. Moving the boundaries for the purpose of excluding certain parcels erodes the effectiveness of the CPO by allowing the very uses that have been identified as posing the greatest threat to character and stability of the island community,” Merchant wrote.
Beaufort attorney Kevin Dukes and developer Elvio Tropeano, speaking as representatives for the as-yet-unidentified property owners, appeared before the committee to make their case for rezoning. Dukes argued that the analysis of the Pine Island rezoning application was flawed and constituted unequal treatment under the law as it applied to his clients. Dukes further asserted that the county held to a predetermined outcome intent on not changing the CPO boundaries.
Following Dukes, Tropeano reiterated Dukes’ point, saying, “As Mr. Duke said, the processing of this application is just bizarro world, a display of predetermined outcomes and unequal treatment.”
Tropeano, in a presentation that at times became contentious, questioned the underlying assumptions used to draft the original CPO and a subsequent revision to its language.
“It is what I started off with saying, which is you guys are only as good as the information that you get, and the information that you got was garbage,” Tropeano said.
Council member Larry McElynn pushed back against Tropeano’s assertion.
“Because the CPO was adopted into the community development code, it serves as the governing framework for all zoning, land use, and development approvals on St. Helena. County staff and planning commissions are legally bound to enforce its terms, such as to strict prohibition on golf courses and gated communities, meaning they cannot arbitrarily grant exceptions outside of the established legal amendment process,” McElynn said.
He further argued that a vote in favor of the rezoning would constitute a vote against the rule of law.
When the issue went to a vote, the committee upheld the planning commission recommendation and voted to recommend the denial of the application by a 6-3 vote. Council members Paula Brown, Tom Reitz and Logan Cunningham voted against the motion to deny the application.
Beaufort County Council will consider the first reading of an ordinance to adopt the requested zoning change during its Monday, Nov. 9 meeting.