Buckingham Landing lot development to continue

Beaufort County has allowed construction to move forward on the parking lot of a waterfront restaurant near the bridges to Hilton Head Island.

County zoning director Hillary Austin said a stop-order placed on the parking lot last February has been lifted and construction had resumed at the Buckingham Landing property.

Equipment has been sitting idle outside the gazebo-shaped seafood restaurant overlooking Mackay's Creek.

The restaurant's owner, Wilbert Roller Jr., was cited for violating his development permit after a county code enforcement officer responded to a complaint that trees were being felled on his property.

Austin said Roller and the county still were at odds over how many parking spaces are allowed on the property.

"His position is the same and our position has not changed," she said.

Plans call for 56 parking spaces, but Roller has asked the county to allow 102 spots.

In 2002, a court order allowed the restaurant to be built in the residential Buckingham Landing neighborhood because plans for the building were approved in 1988, before the county had zoning rules.