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Now imagine stepping onto the island, which is accessible only by water, and being greeted by a welcoming pavilion that leads from the waterfront to a mix of shops, offices and residential structures along a tree-lined boulevard.
That vision is part of an ambitious, sometimes contested plan for the island's future that county planners and a committee of residents are pitching to islanders and county officials.
Supporters say the plan would preserve much of Daufuskie -- a national historic district -- while concentrating urban development in a few walkable areas and creating multiple civic spaces.
They also say the plan would unify the heavily stratified community and enhance the struggling, tourism-based economy of Daufuskie, a sparsely developed 5,000-acre island that is home to a few hundred residents south of Hilton Head Island.
When a rendering of a cluster of quaint buildings situated around a village green flashed on a screen at a Planning Commission meeting Thursday, county planner Brian Herrmann described the type of environment the plan might create.
"You can just see kids tossing the football around," Herrmann said. "These are the kinds of places that so often we don't build anymore."
A central tenet of the plan, more than four years in the making, is a "form-based code" that would determine what people can do with their property based on design more than use.
Some planners summarize form-based code as being more concerned with what a building looks like on the outside than what happens on the inside. Advocates say it can allow planners to guide growth more effectively by proactively determining which areas they want to remain rural and which they want developed more intensely.
Many hail it as a better way to build communities than so-called conventional, "Euclidean" codes, and it may provide a blueprint for how much of the county will regulate land use in the future.
Port Royal, Bluffton and Beaufort already have form-based codes that cover parts of their respective jurisdictions.
All three of those municipalities and the county are considering form-based codes for their entire jurisdictions.
County planning director Tony Criscitiello said the Daufuskie plan will serve as "a good prelude to what we're trying to do" in the rest of the county.
Beaufort County would be among the first counties in the country with such a code, Criscitiello said.
A SIGNIFICANT DEPARTURE
Cooter Ramsey, a Beaufort architect who helped planners and residents develop the Daufuskie plan, said form-based codes are a significant departure from Euclidean ones, which primarily restrict what a community does not want.
"This code is written the opposite: 'We do want this,' " Ramsey said.
That concept is attractive enough that the owners of two large tracts slated to become planned-unit developments on Daufuskie have agreed to give up those rights to participate in a potential form-based system.
Those additions mean the plan would govern two-thirds of the island, which is about 5 miles long and 2.5 miles wide.
On Daufuskie, a form-based code would usher more dense development to a primary portal around Freeport marina and encourage a secondary portal on the southern end of the island near Marshside Mama's Cafe.
It would do that by assigning land one of five designations, from D1 -- the most rural -- to D5 -- the most urban.
Signage, fencing and roads would move from less to more as the architecture and density of buildings becomes more urban, just as the island's natural environment changes from one type of habitat to another as a traveler moves inland.
As long as a building looks like it fits with its surroundings and has sufficient parking nearby, it could generally be used for a variety of purposes, Herrmann said.
To realize that vision, planners recommend the county establish a program that would allow land owners to buy and sell development rights.
Such a program would allow the density of the island to shift toward the portals and away from the rest of the island.
Contrast that with current zoning, which allows one dwelling unit per acre on most of the island. Herrmann called that "a recipe for sprawl."
A so-called "transfer of development rights" program could prove attractive for owners of many of the island's lots that have sat vacant and untouched since they were subdivided years ago, he said. Much of the island's interior could then be voluntarily returned to "heritage industries" such as farming, he said.
SUPPORTERS, OPPONENTS CLASH
Many Planning Commission members and Daufuskie residents at Thursday's meeting enthusiastically endorsed the plan, which also includes a host of priorities for the island, such as phasing out combustion-powered vehicles and creating a more effective ferry system.
Cathy Tillman, a Daufuskie resident and the chairwoman of the committee that created the plan, said its vision is key to managing the development expected to come to the island as the recession ebbs and the economic engine that was the Daufuskie Island Resort & Breathe Spa emerges from bankruptcy.
The code is also particularly well timed because the community plans to elect a leadership council next month to speak to county government as the de facto voice of the island, she said.
"We have so many opportunities economically," Tillman said. "There's a real urgency to move the plan forward."
Tom Crews, a Hilton Head architect and Daufuskie property owner who is also on the committee, said knowing how the island will develop would assure investors it's safe to put money into the island.
Not all residents and public officials are sold on the plan, however.
Many Daufuskie residents who came there because of the freedoms the isolated island offers question why the county is intervening in their affairs now, said Torrey Downs, president of the Daufuskie Island Community Improvement Club, whose members include native islanders.
"A lot of people moved to Daufuskie to be kind of left alone," she said.
Downs said the plan represents "a good vision," but she worries it will be difficult to implement.
Some residents who live outside Daufuskie's gated communities fear the plan could bring higher taxes to pay for road paving, utility systems and the like to support new development, Downs said.
Many of those residents are out of work because of the resort's closing and an inefficient ferry system yet recently received property tax bills that doubled or tripled in recent reassessments, she said.
"If that doubles and triples again, it's going to force a lot of people off this island," Downs said. "I guess the fear would be people not being able to afford to live on their land."
Adhering to the plan's architectural standards could make it more expensive to build on the island, already an expensive process, and more difficult for the county to monitor new construction, Downs said.
Downs urged county officials to think about "not only the facades of galleries and coffee shops" but also the interests of the existing community when considering the plan. The plan will likely have little effect on many of its most ardent boosters, she said.
The plan's supporters say it would boost property values and is designed to support an economy that will help residents more readily live and work on the island.
Supporters also say building would not necessarily be more expensive under a form-based code because the required styles are based on the island's existing architecture.
New mobile homes would be required to be partially screened from any adjacent residences and roads, but county officials say residents unable or unwilling to do so could ask to be released from the requirement.
One body that could consider such appeals would be a new Sustainable Planning Team, a group of island residents appointed to make recommendations on new projects to the county's Development Review Team.
Criscitiello said the system would be flexible enough to work for and not against the wishes of the people.
"We are building a community," Criscitiello said. "We're not building a resort."
WOULD IT WORK?
Commission chairman Jim Hicks called the Daufuskie plan, including its 85-page draft code, "almost a brilliant document."
He worries, however, it doesn't prioritize its myriad objectives in the same fashion as community preservation plans for other areas of the county. He said it would be inappropriate to incorporate such a sweeping document into law as an amendment to the county's Comprehensive Plan.
The commission voted Thursday to reconsider the plan next month.
Although Hicks said the commission will likely recommend council adopt form-based code for the island, he said he hasn't decided if it's appropriate county-wide.
"Everybody says it is really great," Hicks said, "but we haven't seen it on a large scale yet."
He said Daufuskie could be a good test for the county to learn more. The county has developed its current code for a decade, Hicks said, so he wants to make sure any new code would be better.
"Is this the 'new wave' of planning, or is this really something that can last us a decade?" he asked.
