‘Let’s keep order please’: Big Beaufort apartment building OK’d after fiery meeting
A controversial three-story apartment complex is still on track for downtown Beaufort even as it faces challenges in circuit court and the court of public opinion because of its size and location within the city’s famed Historic District.
But the project has its supporters, and the developer is standing by the project, noting he’s implemented changes in response to concerns to make the complex better.
The Cannon Building received a 5-0 vote for preliminary approval from the city’s Historic Review Board Wednesday, albeit with the caveats that the city study several areas of the current architectural plans. Developer 303 Associates had sought final approval at the meeting.
The decision to grant preliminary approval came after hours of sometimes emotional and testy deliberations that included one board member being called a bully and worse.
Before the vote, Cynthia Jenkins, executive director of the Historic Beaufort Foundation, which opposes the project as currently proposed, urged board members to consider preliminary approval only, not final, given two pending court appeals and the significance of the project to Beaufort.
“Y’all need to slow down,” said Jenkins, raising concerns about procedure of city boards, the city’s zoning rules, the project’s design and parking, and the impact it would have on the Historic District. “If you want to consider this, you need to consider it for preliminary, not final. It’s way, way too soon for that.”
The decision granting preliminary approval comes four months after the Zoning Board of Appeals granted a special exception for the “large footprint” project allowing a building with frontage in excess of 100 feet. That decision is the one being appealed.
And it comes a month before the National Park Service will hold meetings in the city as part of a study of the integrity and condition of Beaufort National Historic Landmark District. That study was launched in part because of the size of the apartment project and other proposals by 303 Associates, including a hotel and parking garage.
The Cannon Building project includes some commercial space on the first floor and 19 apartment units on the second and third floors.
The HRB approved the project conceptually Feb. 10.
“This is not Beaufort,” Steven Harrison, owner of the Rhett House, said of the project, which he said he liked — but not its location. “It doesn’t feel like it. It doesn’t smell like it.”
Bit by bit, Harrison said, the cultural fabric of the city is disappearing.
But Nan Sutton, who owns a downtown business, spoke in favor of The Cannon Building, calling it “appropriate infill” that should be embraced because it will help make the downtown more vibrant. If Historic Beaufort Foundation has its way, she said, not much would get built, especially in the city’s core. “Sometimes,” Sutton said, “I feel like there’s a glass dome being put over us.”
Tense moments came after board member Mike Sutton started proposing motions on individual aspects of the project, such as a recommendation by staff to allow deviation from code so ceiling height could be lowered from 12 to 11 feet.
Board member Maxine Lutz said Sutton was getting into the weeds rather than looking at the big picture. Lutz recommended that the board wait for the results of the appeal before giving final approval. She also wanted to review the position of the previous HRB board that gave conceptual approval. Most of the board now is new.
Sutton continued moving to approve individual aspects of the project’s design. Then he questioned board members about how they felt about those details, particularly Lutz, the former executive director of the Historic Beaufort Foundation, who said she was confused why the board was voting on the details first.
Sutton said it was important to address the facts and details because people were “hiding behind legalese” in trying to block the project. Board members, he added, would approve any other project if they had as much detail as staff had provided in this case.
“We’re trying to be careful, and I think it’s unfair for you to bully us,” board member Michelle Prentice told Sutton.
That drew applause from the audience. Sutton said he wasn’t trying to bully anybody and apologized.
Board member Stacy Applegate said she thinks The Cannon Building is beautiful, “but on Boundary Street,” not in the Historic District.
At one point, somebody shouted out at Sutton from the audience.
“I’m a what?” Sutton said. “Who said that? I’m acting like an a--hole?”
Chairman Jeremiah Smith pounded his gavel. “Lets keep order please,” he said.
Jenkins, executive director of the Historic Beaufort Foundation, viewed the HRB’s decision to grant preliminary approval, as opposed to final, as a positive step. Now 303 Associates has an opportunity, she said, to come up with something that reduces the overall feel of the project. The architecture of the project, she said, is similar to buildings in three other locations in the city.
“Beaufort deserves better,” Jenkins said, especially in the Historic District.
But Arnie McClure of Coast Architects, which is designing the building, said developer 303 Associates has been responsive to the concerns raised by the public, city staff and HRB members. The current design, he said, has been tweaked as a result, making it better.
The mass of the building, for example, has been reduced by 10% and the height has been lowered by a little more than 3 feet, to 36.8 feet high, McClure said. Other changes: The roof line has been simplified, the apartment entrance has been moved, and the number of porches has been reduced. McClure said the new building will contribute to the “beauty and viability of the downtown core” and be an improvement over what’s there now.
The three-story building is planned for 211 Charles St., at its intersection with Port Republic Street. A one-story building at the site now would be demolished to make way for the project.
This story was originally published December 9, 2021 at 3:02 PM.
