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The town's Planning Commission on Wednesday night unanimously approved annexing about 98 acres. If that annexation and plans for the land are approved by the full town council, developers would build 68 homes using closely-monitored, environmentally-sound standards. Council gave preliminary approval to the annexation request last week.
The Garvey Preserve property, located west of S.C. 46 and S.C. 170 along the New River, initially came before the planning commission in December. At that time, some officials said they would not consider allowing the developer, Quinnco Companies, to build more homes on the property than Beaufort County would have allowed.
Quinnco had asked Bluffton to annex the land and zone it to allow 92 residential lots. County zoning allows about 33 lots.
Since that December request, Quinnco has over-hauled the site plan, town planning officials said Wednesday.
While the developer still would get to build more houses than it would have under county zoning, one official said after Wednesday's meeting the increase is justified because of the higher cost of developing a certified green community.
"The project became more important than an increase in density," said former commission chairman Don Blair, who still serves on the board.
During the meeting, Blair called the project a "milestone" he hopes serves as a point of reference for future projects in the area.
To be considered green, EarthCraft, an independent inspector, awards the developer points for environmentalperformance.
There are other examples of environmentally-friendly development in Beaufort County, but Blair said the Garvey Preserve project is held to a higher standard and is the first of its kind in the state. He called those other examples "essentially marketing tools."
The annexation and zoning request will likely come back to council for final approval in September.
