180+ apartments could be coming to this busy Bluffton intersection. What we know
The busy intersection at Bluffton Parkway and Buck Island Road could see new growth in the coming months.
A Virginia-based real estate company is proposing five three-story apartment buildings in a part of Bluffton known for its eclectic mix of single-family homes and its tight-knit community of longtime Blufftonians. The apartments, a total of 188 units on 15.5 acres, would be located across the street from the historic Bluffton Eagle’s Baseball Field.
Bluffton’s Planning Commission, at a workshop last week, discussed a request from Bonaventure Realty Group — under the name BRG Bluffton LLC — to rezone the property and allow the development company to build multi-family apartments (instead of single-family housing) and increase the allowed number of units per building from 20 to 86.
Commission members and Bluffton staff are hesitant about the proposal. Some say rezoning the property would drastically change a corner of Bluffton already being gentrified by new development.
“I cannot think of a project that is more opposite of what was intended for an area than this project is,” commission member Charlie Wetmore III said last week. “You have a cultural neighborhood there that you’re talking about plopping a huge project with massive buildings in the middle of an area where the traffic is already stressed and strained. I just don’t see anyway anything close to this can come to fruition.”
Walter Nester, the attorney representing BRG Bluffton, told the commission the project would provide quality housing — citing the town’s drastic need for affordable housing for its workforce. He called the town’s housing needs a “desperate situation.”
Nester did not return a call for comment Monday.
If the rezoning request is approved as proposed — it’s still in its early stages — BRG Bluffton plans to build 188 residential apartments north of Buck Island Road and west of Bluffton Parkway.
The apartments, according to planning documents, would range from 754 square feet to 1,416 square feet. Next to the three-story apartment buildings, the company may also build a parking lot, pool, outdoor seating area and recreational areas.
What’s being proposed?
To build the apartments, BRG Bluffton is asking the town to change the area’s future land use map designation from “Medium Density Residential” to “High Density Residential.” That change would be codified in the town’s comprehensive plan.
As part of the request, the company submitted three other applications:
▪ A zoning map amendment to change the zoning from residential general to the Old Carolina Planned Unit Development.
▪ A text amendment to the PUD, allowing multi-family buildings in the area to have up to 86 units per building instead of 20. This request also asks the town to lower the required number of parking spaces per unit.
▪ A master plan amendment to include the 15.5-acre parcel into the Old Carolina PUD as a new planning area.
By moving the 15.5-acre parcel into the PUD, the development company would be allowed to build multi-family apartment buildings instead of just single-family homes.
What’s next?
After the Planning Commission’s apprehension about the project last week, Jeremy Moss, a vice president from BRG, said he would take the town’s comments into consideration when drafting a final plan for the property.
Once a finalized plan is complete, Moss said he planned to meet with members of the community to get their input on the project and hear whether they had concerns.
A tentative schedule included in the town’s planning documents shows that the request to rezone the property is expected to go before the Planning Commission for a public hearing on Sept. 22.
If approved, the request would then head to Bluffton Town Council for first reading on Nov. 9.
