You can see Hilton Head rental business from the street. That’s a problem, town says
When you’re driving U.S. 278 on Hilton Head Island in the Chaplin area, you can’t see much beyond the homes near the road and the hundreds of tall pine trees.
At the road’s intersection with Burkes Beach Road, a 2,800-square-foot, blue coastal-style office now stands a stone’s throw from the island’s major thoroughfare.
You’re not supposed to be able to see it, though.
The building belongs to Vacation Homes of Hilton Head, a company founded in 2008 that manages rental properties and real estate. Also located in Shelter Cove Towne Centre, Vacation Homes started planning for the new office on U.S. 278 in 2018.
When it did, the new office’s location prompted a design review board review, which decided the company needed to keep its dense tree-and-plant buffer separating the building from U.S. 278.
One year later, the buffer is gone.
Photographed in January 2020, the office is clearly visible from the road through a handful of tall pine trees.
Developer Mike Thomas of ICON Architecture and Planning was scheduled to appear before the design review board again Tuesday to address the violation of the board’s conditions for approving the building.
His application was withdrawn prior to the meeting, and he did not return a call for comment on Tuesday.
But the design review board was clear about the violation.
“The contractor cleared the under-story buffer even after its preservation was made a condition of the DRB approval,” the meeting agenda said. “The owner was required to submit a plan to replant the buffer to the DRB for approval.”
Reached Tuesday, owner of Vacation Homes of Hilton Head Jacquelyn Sankowski declined to comment on the new office or the buffer.
Michael Gentemann, vice chair of the review board, said he couldn’t comment on the Vacation Homes buffer since it was withdrawn, but said generally “I can’t imagine that we (the DRB) would ever give anyone the ability to clear out a buffer. You can’t just replace mature growth with new stuff.”
Buffers, often cherished by Hilton Head design reviewers, “add significantly to the project’s Island Character as well as reduces the cost of new landscaping,” according to the island’s design guide, which the board uses to guide its reviews of new buildings.
While some residents support the buffer rules, tourists often bemoan the sign limitations and dense tree coverings that hinder their ability to navigate the island when they visit.
This story was originally published January 29, 2020 at 11:28 AM.
