Greater Bluffton golf club owner angered by removal of trees for parkway

The owner of Executive Golf Club in greater Bluffton says workers improperly cut down trees on his property last week as part of a project related to the extension of the Bluffton Parkway.

Club owner Grant McKinley said Santee Cooper workers acted with the oversight of a transportation consultant for Beaufort County. He believes the utility's tree-cutting was outside the scope of the easement that allows it to perform maintenance near its power lines.

"They're using their easement language to get on my property for the wrong purpose," he said.

The county is extending the parkway in phases to become a continuous road from S.C. 170 east to U.S. 278. The phase in question covers the easternmost stretch, from Burnt Church Road to U.S. 278 near Buckingham Landing. A construction date for this phase has not been set.

Mollie Gore, a Santee Cooper spokeswoman, said the county has contracted with the utility to remove some trees inside the utility's right of way in preparation for moving power poles to accommodate the road. That work was covered under an easement that allows the utility to build or maintain parts of its transmission system, Gore said.

"The easement gives us the right to maintain our transmission system, which can include relocating power poles," she said.

The utility also removed dangerous trees outside the right of way to keep them from falling on the power line, which is also covered by an easement, Gore said. "The work we were doing all falls within our rights."

McKinley disagrees. He said the county shouldn't have contracted for any work related to the parkway before it buys his land.

"They don't have the right to be there to be moving power lines for the purpose of building a road," McKinley said.

This dispute is not McKinley's first with the county. The golf club sued the county in January, alleging the County Council wrongfully denied it the right to build a mixed-use development on the property. The county delayed a rezoning decision until a transportation consultant finalized the route for the parkway, so the necessary right of way would be cheaper when claimed through eminent domain, according to the lawsuit, which is now in federal court.

McKinley said he realizes he can't stop the parkway's construction, but he said he wishes the county had been more forthright about its role in the recent tree clearing, which he said disrupted his family's business.

"I just would like the county to have a little more integrity," McKinley said. "I took exception when they tried to say, 'This is just routine.' "

McKinley said he was working on the course's first tee June 23when he heard heavy equipment operating. About 300 yards away, he found about 15 workers cutting trees on his property, he said, leaving branches lying across the cart path near the third tee.

McKinley estimates the felled trees included eight to 10 that were 10 inches or greater in diameter and numerous smaller ones. Other trees had been marked with spots of blue paint, and McKinley said workers told him those trees were slated for removal.

When McKinely confronted the crew, he said, a Santee Cooper official wrote and signed a statement saying the crew was reclaiming the existing right of way and cutting dangerous trees within 25 feet of the right of way's edge "for the Bluffton Parkway relocation project."

Steve Baker, assistant construction manager for Dennis Corp., a transportation consulting firm working for the county on the Bluffton Parkway extension, was on the site but refused to sign the statement, McKinley said.

County attorney Lad Howell said Baker was there to observe the utility's work. Howell was not sure why that was necessary.

"I kind of question why they're out there, too," Howell said.

Baker would not speakon the record and referred questions to county officials.

After securing the statement and Baker's business card last week, McKinley said, he asked the workers to leave. He said he had to ask againwhen workers returned later in the week.

McKinley said it appears workers haven't come back since.

Howell said he hopes the county's actions are not perceived as heavy-handed.

"That's not our intention," he said. He said the county intends to acquire McKinley's rights of way in the future.