No more resort-style homes in this Hilton Head community?

Outcry over three resort-style houses under construction in the Bradley Circle neighborhood on Hilton Head’s north end has led to a proposed zoning change.

After hearing from more than a dozen residents on Wednesday, the town Planning Commission voted unanimously to rezone 49 parcels in Bradley Circle from resort development back to residential but excluded three parcels that town staff had included in the rezoning recommendation. The proposed change has to be approved by the Town Council before it could go into effect.

Some residents have complained that three, 75-foot-tall buildings being built near Chaplin Community Park tower over nearby structures and are almost as tall as the Marriott Surfwatch hotel behind them. The houses in question are not the three parcels that were excluded in the proposed rezoning change.

“I don’t believe they’re houses — I think they’re hotels — but that’s my opinion,” said John Cochran during Wednesday’s meeting. “Our family is very concerned about what’s going on in Bradley Circle, and it’s going to affect us and where we retire to.”

Tamara Becker, a resident of the area, told the Planning Commission she knows of two other people who have decided not to retire to Bradley Circle because of the development.

Those who spoke at Wednesday’s meeting were split on whether the neighborhood should be rezoned.

Robert Singleton, a native islander who has lived in the area for more than 25 years, said he wants his property to remain the same for future generations of his family. Singleton’s property is one of the three parcels excluded from the rezoning application; he said he did not want his zoning to change again.

Walter Nester, an attorney representing some property owners, said the reason for rezoning the area in 2014 from residential to resort development was to encourage development. Now that development is underway, it does not make sense to rezone the community back to residential, he said.

In an interview last month, Christopher Abreu, a Connecticut resident and owner of two of the three resort-style houses, said he needed to build homes big enough for his family to stay in part of the year. The homes likely will be rented when his family is not using them, he said.

Town staff originally recommended that 52 parcels on about 12 acres of land be rezoned back to residential. However, Planning Commission members did not think three outlying parcels should be included in the rezoning application, noting those affected residents did not want their zoning changed.

Charles Cousins, town director of community development, said the staff’s recommendation included the three outlying lots because allowing them to remain zoned for resort development would exacerbate traffic in the area. He also said those lots conformed better with residential zoning.

The changes approved Wednesday would not allow offices, resort accommodations and most other commercial services in the rezoned area, said Nicole Dixon, the town’s development review administrator. The proposed rezoning is expected to go before the Town Council at its Aug. 1 and Sept. 19 meetings, she said.

“Within the last year, staff and Town Council were approached by several residents in the area who have voiced their concerns about the height of some of the homes that were being constructed on Bradley Circle, and how those homes and potential developments were changing the character of the neighborhood,” Dixon told the Planning Commission.

A restriction on the height of buildings in the area was changed from 75 feet to 45 feet after a land-management ordinance amendment was approved in May 2016, she said.

The Planning Commission raised concerns Wednesday about whether residents had proper notice about the rezoning of their property to resort development in 2014. Some residents contend they weren’t aware of the 2014 change until recently, after the start of construction on the three resort-style houses.

Brian Hulbert, staff attorney for the town, said although notices were not mailed to each individual property owner about the 2014 change, notices of public hearings and the proposed changes were posted on the town’s website and bulletin boards and in newspapers at the time.

“I know it was legally done,” said Peter Kristian, a Planning Commission member and Hilton Head Plantation’s general manager. “But if it was me, I’d feel the same way.”

This story was originally published July 20, 2017 at 4:15 PM with the headline "No more resort-style homes in this Hilton Head community?."