Pepper Hall proposal back to square one

County leaders and the owners of the Pepper Hall property took their proposals for the more than 100 acres of horse farm and rural land on U.S. 278 back to square one on Wednesday.

But Robert Graves, who owns the property with two cousins, did not have new details about how much commercial and residential development he would like to build on what has become of the last large, undeveloped spaces on Beaufort County's busiest highway.

The cousins might try to scale back how much development they ultimately ask for on the property to allay County Council members' long-held concerns about the plan, Graves suggested.

"We would like to come back to you to answer commercial square footage question," Graves' attorney, Barry Johnson, told County Council members. "We'll take a look at how to reduce the numbers that have been discussed in the prior version of the development agreement. We want to take a hard look at the factors to fit into" commercial zoning.

Graves and councilmen Brian Flewelling, Steve Fobes and Jerry Stewart are attempting to re-negotiate a development agreement that would cap how much can be built on the property.

A version of an agreement was voted down by a subcommittee of council members more than two years ago. Those terms would have allowed 700,000-square-feet of commercial space and 480 residential dwellings on the acreage.

Last month, the council decided to give the negotiations another try after months of heated bickering and confusion about whether the county should buy or rezone Pepper Hall.

Graves and Johnson will submit revised numbers next week and will reconvene with the council members on Dec. 18.

Flewelling believes new square-footage numbers in a new agreement can put to rest the over-development, environmental and traffic access fears most council members have shared about Pepper Hall for many years. The details about the exact development eventually built there can come later, he added.

"We want to nail the big picture items down, and everything else is negotiable," he said. "It's like buying a car. Get the overall price, then let's talk about floor mats."

Follow reporter Zach Murdock on Twitter at twitter.com/IPBG_Zach and on Facebook at facebook.com/IPBGZach.

Related content:

• 'We have to work together': Owner, county panel to try again on Pepper Hall development, Nov. 30, 2015
• Pepper Hall debate rises again, Oct. 30, 2015
• Leaders deny commercial, residential development on Pepper Hall, Aug. 10, 2015

This story was originally published December 9, 2015 at 8:46 PM with the headline "Pepper Hall proposal back to square one."