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At a workshop Wednesday, council member Vernon DeLoach said rezoning 1712, 1714, 1716 and 1718 Drayton Drive would bring too much traffic and congestion to the area and could potentially change its character. About three residents have rejected to the idea in previous public meetings.
Current zoning allows only single-family residences and requires lots be 5,000 square feet larger than in the proposed rezoning.
"What we do there is pretty much going to control what we do to the rest of the area," DeLoach said.
However, the neighborhood is ripe for redevelopment, Mayor Sam Murray said. The town's future land-use map plans for a broader uses in that neighborhood.
"If you go out there and look at those houses you have some tiny homes sitting on some large spaces," Murray said during the meeting. "I think we ought to do something in that area."
DeLoach agreed, but asked if it was possible to reduce minimum lot sizes from 10,000 to 5,000 square feet and prohibit duplex construction. Traditional houses, he said, typically attract people who stay longer and have more interest in the town as compared with duplexes.
The town would have to create a new zoning designation for that to happen, town manager Van Willis said.
Edward Dukes of Broad River Holding, LLC, submitted the rezoning application and said at a Beaufort-Port Royal Joint Planning Commission meeting Monday that he had no immediate plans for the properties.
Right now, four rental houses occupy those lots but are nearing the end of their life cycle, he told commission members. If he decided to build duplexes, spacing regulations would likely permit only about six or seven structures, he said.
The planning commission recommended council approve the rezoning Monday. Council is scheduled to have a first reading on the issue at its meeting Wednesday. Passage requires two readings.
