Beaufort County votes to tighten language banning golf courses on St. Helena Island

The Beaufort County Council made a move Monday to increase protections for the woods and marshes of St. Helena Island, particularly as the island faces development pressures.

The council voted 10-1 Monday to amend its development code to strengthen a special zoning on St. Helena Island. Commissioner Logan Cunningham of Bluffton was the sole “no” vote.

The move, aimed at preserving Gullah Geechee culture, brought applause from residents who are lobbying for tougher rules to prevent golf courses and gated communities from being built on the island.

But controversy continues over a proposed golf course that sparked the move to improve the Cultural Protection Overlay (CPO) district, which was put in place in 1999 to protect the area.

It was the third time since January that hundreds of residents, many of them from St. Helena Island, have packed the council chambers to speak in support of the CPO, which they helped to craft 24 years ago and now seek to improve.

The CPO text amendments still require two more votes before they are final.

Elvio Tropeano and Pine Island Property Holdings LLC are proposing three six-hole golf courses on roughly 450 acres. The property is in an area known as St. Helenaville off of Dulamo Road, which is connected to the 77-acre Pine Island via a causeway.

The proposed golf course and housing development have renewed the debate over the CPO and development on the largely rural island east of Beaufort, where the distinct culture of the Gullah-Geechee people has endured for generations because of the area’s isolation. Residents have largely spurned golf and gated communities that are common south of the Broad River in communities, such as Hilton Head.

What critics say about project

Tropeano’s project wasn’t on the agenda Monday — at least not technically.

Instead, the agenda listed consideration of amendments to the CPO or development code recommended by a committee chaired by Marquetta L. Goodwine, or Queen Quet, chieftess of the Gullah/Geechee Nation. The changes make it even more explicit that the county doesn’t want golf courses constructed in the CPO.

“Do not exchange golf resort living and gated luxury plantations for a National Heritage asset,” Dionne Hoskins-Brown, chairperson of the Gullah Geechee Cultural Heritage Commission, told commissioners before the vote. “St. Helena is deep in the heart of the corridor. It is the wrong place soulless development.”

Tropeano, the property owner, defended his project.

He initially sought to remove his property entirely from the CPO, he said, so he could develop a golf course project that would reduce housing density by more than 60 percent, and the number of docks by 99 percent. His plan, he said, was to put 250 to 400 acres into conservation, allowing public access on a seasonal basis.

He said Monday’s meeting was supposed to be about strengthening the CPO, not his property.

On Monday, the hallway outside the council chambers was elbow-to-elbow, and the overflow room in another building where a live feed was streamed was filled, too.

The current CPO bans regulation and par three golf courses having nine holes or more. Tropeano originally asked for an exception to the CPO so he could build an 18-hole course, which residents opposed. Now, in a move to meet the current CPO language, he is proposing three six-hole courses. Beaufort County is currently considering that plan.

The proposed CPO amendment, if approved, does away with any mention of the number of holes and would prohibit golf on “an area of land with improvements to the grounds on which the sport of golf is played.”

The amendments also contain a new purpose statement. It includes more information about the history of the Gullah-Geechee people and why protecting the land and the culture is an important public policy for Beaufort County.

The Gullah/Geechee people are descendants of enslaved people brought from West Africa, and St. Helena Island is home to one of the largest Gullah/Geechee communities on the southeast coast, the code now says. The historic isolation of the County’s Sea Islands, it says, was crucial to the survival of a unique culture with African roots that remains clearly visible in distinctive arts, crafts, food, music and language.

Strengthening policy language

Responding to repeated calls from the public that the county buy the land using public funds set aside for land protection, County Administrator Eric Greenway said the county tried but was rebuffed by the previous property owner who ended up selling it to Tropeano for $18 million.

If a golf course is not a part of the project — under current zoning — more than 200 houses still could be built on St. Helenaville and Pine Island, in addition to 70 to 95 docks, Greenway said.

Chairman Joseph Passiment banged his gavel twice as the audience began to grumble at times during the council discussion.

Commissioner Logan Cunningham of Bluffton recommended delaying a vote until June to give county staff time to coordinate conversations with the developer or public to determine what’s the best.

But Councilman York Glover pushed against a delay on taking action on the CPO changes.

“There is no need to negotiate, and who is negotiating?” Glover said. “I don’t think this council wants to tell St. Helena what it can do with property or what’s in the comprehensive plan.”

Glover said the council is moving to strengthen the language so it’s clear, Glover said.

“You’re talking negotiating with developers,” Glover said. “The community never dealt with developers. It dealt with the comp plan.”

Cunningham said he agrees the CPO should be strengthened. But he’s concerned about private property rights and the county overstretching it’s authority, he said. The community, he added, may not want a golf course or gated community — or any development — but that’s not an option.

“It is still allowed no matter which way this votes,” Cunningham said of the text amendments and Pine Island development. “That does not stop development of Pine Island.”

The more intense development that could follow if a golf course is not allowed concerns him, he said, with the large number of homes and docks a “huge impact.”

The decision to move forward on new CPO changes, Cunningham added, is “100 percent because of this property.”

Cunningham dropped his motion to delay a vote and cast his vote against the CPO changes.

On April 26, 1999, County Council approved the CPO District to protect the natural and cultural resources from development pressures with the goal of preventing rural gentrification and displacement of residents.

Updating the CPO is especially important today because of climate change and sea level rise, said Queen Quet, the committee chairwoman.

The CPO Committee met four times between Jan. 17 and March 21 when it voted unanimously to recommend that County Council adopt its proposed amendments.