Shell Hall gate issue still open

A gate at Shell Hall remains closed at night despite several written orders from Bluffton officials that it stay open until the structure is approved by the town.

Town Council members said during a meeting last weekthe gate had been installed without town permission, and requires an amendment to the community's master plan.

The owners of Shell Hall, which is on Buckwalter Parkway, must ask the town's permission to have the gate, which has been open during the day and closed at night, according to town officials.

Steve Anthony, whose Legacy Group took over ownership of Shell Hall last year, said recently the gate was installed for security reasons.

In letters dated Aug. 22 to town officials, Anthony submitted an updated Shell Hall master plan, but added that "I am not aware of any changes to the final plan that required (the) town's approval."

In one of the letters, he wrote "... we have ordered a sensor installed that will open the entrance gate during the evening hours until this controversy can be resolved."

Those sensors apparently had not been installed by Wednesday night, when the gate remained closed.

Anthony did not return a call seeking comment Thursday.

Town officials first warned Anthony the gate was a violation of the master plan in a July 16 letter in which assistant town manager for planning Wendy Powers wrote that "it was clearly the intent of the town council approval (of the master plan) ... that the community be interconnected to adjacent development rather than a gated

community."

In an Aug. 4 letter, Powers wrote that the gate must remain open until council approves a plan amendment.

About two weeks later, Anthony wrote that the gate was erected in response to neighborhood crime over the past several months, including "unauthorized parties with underage drinking involved, midnight sex parties at the pool spa (caught on tape), vehicles damaged, ATVs running all over and Pinecrest residents allowing their dogs to defecate on our lots."

He wrote that the Bluffton Police Department had been notified "numerous times" and that officers had been hired to patrol the neighborhood at night.

Lt. Bryan Norberg of the police department said the force had not seen an increase in crime in Shell Hall. The number of incident reports this year to date is slightly down from last year, he said.

A letter from Town Manager Bill Workman dated Aug. 20 again emphasized that the gate must remain open and called for a master plan revision.