A ‘nuisance’ or fun for kids? Hilton Head neighbors go to court over go-kart track
The residents of Indigo Run, a gated, mid-island community on Hilton Head Island, do not want an electric go-kart track on the island.
Indigo Run’s property owners association has filed another zoning appeal, this time with the Beaufort Court of Common Pleas, to block the construction of a track with 15 to 20 electric go-karts at Broad Creek Marina off Marshland Road.
The appeal, also brought by Indigo Run resident Tyson Miller, says the Town of Hilton Head zoning board was wrong to allow the track. It was approved after a public hearing July 15, and the Town Council declined to reconsider the decision after angry residents spoke against the track at an August council meeting.
The next step for residents willing to appeal a decision by the town is to take the issue to circuit court, where a judge or jury hears the case, according to the S.C. code of laws. Indigo Run hopes it won’t need to go to the State Supreme Court of Appeals, the final arbiter.
Residents in Indigo Run have often cited the lights likely to accompany the track and the noise of people using the carts as detrimental to their quality of life. Others have argued the track is an affront to the Hilton Head Island pace of life.
The go-kart track is planned for a 16-acre property off Marshland Road. The track will join the Aerial Adventure Park, Up the Creek Pub and Grill and Broad Creek Marina. It is slated to be between 750 and 800 feet long, according to property owner Roger Freedman’s application to the town from summer 2018.
Electric go-karts are traditionally quieter than gas-powered go-karts, according to racing industry sites and Freedman.
While the appeal moves through the court, Broad Creek Marina will go forward with the design and permitting phase of the project, general manager Nate Jones told The Island Packet on Tuesday.
How did it get approved?
Before this year, the town’s land ordinance allowed go-kart tracks only indoors. Town staff used that ordinance to recommend denial of the project. But at a July public hearing, the zoning board unanimously voted to overturn the town staff’s decision and allow the track outdoors in the zoning district where the property sits.
The list of appropriate uses for land on Hilton Head was written in the early 2000s, according to Teri Lewis, deputy director of community development. When go-karts were listed as appropriate only indoors, Lewis said that was deliberate.
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“When I see it specifically listed as ‘indoor,’ what I interpret is that Town Council considered go-kart tracks and opted to put it in the indoor category,” she said in July.
Zoning Board member Charles Walczak disagreed. “I feel that there’s enough ambiguity to permit the use,” he said at the meeting. “It’s probably the best site that we could find for something like this on an island. (It’s) not going to take the image of our island in a different direction.”
The board unanimously voted to add go-karts to approved outdoor uses in the ordinance
Now, the process is under scrutiny as Indigo Run and Miller believe the board erred.
The appeal cites residents’ concerns that the area “will turn into an amusement park over time.”
Cary Kelley, Indigo Run’s general manager, said the POA agreed to appeal the town’s decision because property owners and the board had concerns about noise and lighting from the track — and the POA had the perspective of the track as “a nuisance.”
What’s next?
In its response to the appeal, the town said the zoning board had not erred.
Judge Marvin Dukes heard the case in late October and will decide whether the go-kart track can be built.
Jones, the marina general manager, said Tuesday that he cannot comment on the pending litigation.
This story was originally published November 20, 2019 at 8:30 AM.
