Hilton Head USCB campus secures another approval
The planned University of South Carolina Beaufort campus on Hilton Head Island received another town approval last week over the objection of a half-dozen outspoken opponents.
The town's Planning Commission unanimously approved the $24.5 million project that will bring USCB back to the island at a new hospitality management campus on Office Park Road.
Commission members praised the project as a good fit for the town's comprehensive plan, and USCB officials and students made the case that it will boost the school's growing program.
"It was very encouraging and nice to hear from the students' perspective how they feel they'd benefit having that particular location" at the south end, said Peter Kristian, commission member and general manager of Hilton Head Plantation.
But the case made by the students and hospitality management program director Charlie Calvert went largely unchallenged at the meeting because of the town's rules for public comments, said Karl Engelman, a Sea Pines resident and principal opponent of the project.
Engelman and six other outspoken critics of the campus were granted only three minutes each to present their concerns, per public comment rules, and were not permitted to rebut USCB presenters who were not time limited, Engelman said this week. He called it a "travesty" and "mistreatment" of residents' complaints.
"It may have been public, but it was certainly no forum," said Kate Keep, another Sea Pines resident and former Hilton Head Town Councilwoman.
The committee properly handled the group's concerns within town rules, Kristian argues. Attempts to reach other commission members ahead of the holiday were unsuccessful.
"The chairman (Alex Brown), I thought, conducted the meeting with appropriate decorum, giving everyone the opportunity to speak during the public part of the process," Kristian said this week. "There's public comment and it's not a debate (between commission members and speakers), and I believe Dr. Engelman really wanted to have a debate and that's not the appropriate forum for that enterprise."
Engelman and Keep hoped to argue the campus does not conform with the town's land management ordinance because of the traffic it could add to the back ups that already occur at the nearby Sea Pines traffic circle. The argument has yet to gain any traction with town leaders, though.
Engelman also has called on Mayor David Bennett to intervene and postpone plans for the campus until a more thorough and public review is held. Bennett has dismissed the idea, however, because it could jeopardize the tax financing district funding the project that includes other major town projects, such as the Coligny area redevelopment.
"He told me, 'Look, it's a done deal,'" Engelman said of a conversation with the mayor. "I said, 'Damn it, it is not a done deal.' Until that building goes up or money changes hands, it is not a done deal."
With the Planning Commission's approval, campus plans now head to the town's Design Review Board and the Sea Pines Architectural Review Board.
Construction is expected to begin in early 2017, and the campus is expected to be open for fall classes in 2018.
Demolition of the Carolina complex and old Time Warner building are due to begin shortly after the New Year, when contractor bids for that work is due, according to town documents.
More than $1 million in nearby traffic improvements Office Park Road's intersections with Pope Avenue and Greenwood Drive are expected to begin in early 2016, town leaders have said.
Follow reporter Zach Murdock on Twitter at twitter.com/IPBG_Zach and on Facebook at facebook.com/IPBGZach.
Related content:
- A new era for USCB: Lowest-in-state graduation rate among new chancellor's main challenges, July 31, 2015
- USCB: Expect top tier grads from new campus, May 7, 2015
- Despite opposition, new USCB campus on Hilton Head a done deal, May 8, 2015
This story was originally published December 22, 2015 at 4:30 PM with the headline "Hilton Head USCB campus secures another approval."