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<p><strong>From staff reports</strong></p>
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<p>Preliminary plans for 39 homes plus 52,000 square feet of retail/office space and a Beaufort Memorial Hospital-sponsored day care center made it past the Municipal Planning Commission on Monday night despite the concerns of neighbors about the additional development.</p>
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<p>Sam Levin of Whitehall Point Holdings received approval to advance with his plans for the 12-acre tract at the corner of Ribaut and Alison Roads which, for years, was the home for 62 mobile homes. He received rezoning from the city to accommodate his plans but now is ready to proceed with development plans.</p>
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<p>Levin told the MPC members he had initially planned to build apartment complexes which would be rented at “work force” prices, to accommodate employees at neighboring Beaufort Memorial Hospital and Technical College of the Lowcountry.</p>
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<p>But in response to complaints from the residential neighbors, he had lowered the density to 39 homes plus the two two-story retail/commercial buildings, which would be offered at higher prices.</p>
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<p>The proposed 4,800-foot day care center will be a joint project with the hospital, which needs day care facilities for its employees, Levin said.</p>
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<p>Several residents of Pine and Oakhaven streets expressed concerns about the proposal which shows Oakhaven, which now dead-ends off of Battery Creek Road, as a new connector road to Ribaut. They also expressed concern about increased traffic in general.</p>
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<p>The commissioners, in their motion to approve the proposed sketch, asked the developer not to include Oakhaven as a connector road although the city’s Development Code encourages connectivity of new streets through subdivisions.</p>
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<p>Concerns about drainage were also voiced but Levin stressed the area’s new drainage system was designed to support his plans.</p>
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