With golf course resort off table, future up in air for Pine Island, developer
By Tony Kukulich
The Post And Courier
BEAUFORT — Councilman Logan Cunningham may have peered into a crystal ball as Beaufort County Council prepared to vote on the final reading of revisions to the St. Helena Island Cultural Protection Overlay on May 8.
Speaking before the vote, Cunningham predicted the motion would pass, 9-2.
As it turned out, his prediction was spot on.
The vote capped a months-long effort to strengthen the ordinance County Council originally adopted in 1999 to protect the island’s Gullah/Geechee culture.
While the original overlay was barely a half page long, the revised ordinance stretches to more than two pages. Most of the additions are in the document’s “purpose” section, which describes the history and culture of St. Helena Island in greater depth.
The prohibitions against gated communities, resorts and golf courses remain; however, the definitions of gated communities and golf courses have been updated. The revised language also eliminates a previous exception that allowed golf courses with fewer than nine holes.
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